An April Fools' joke that turned out to be true

[alumfelga]

On 1st of April, I read that Andrew Scott was going to play Hamlet. I chose it as the best April Fools' joke made this year, considering the fact that a) it seems no year can pass without a new Hamlet version and b) tickets for the version with Benedict Cumberbatch have sold out in minutes so you can expect more versions with famous actors. The

Comments

[dieastra]

That's great! I probably hope for the cinema version and won't travel for this, but as the Shakespeare anniversary gala has shown, there can never be too many Hamlets ;)

My parents have married on April 1st, you know. They just picked a Sunday as a date, without looking at what the actual date was. So it happens.

[alumfelga]

If I don't go and there is a cinema version in my country, I'm definitely watching it.

as the Shakespeare anniversary gala has shown, there can never be too many Hamlets ;)
Absolutely!

My parents have married on April 1st, you know. They just picked a Sunday as a date, without looking at what the actual date was. So it happens.
Now when I think about it, I've been to a wedding on 1st April when I was little. It was also Easter Monday that day, which in Poland means children often pour water at each other and fight with water pistols. I was sad I had to stop playing and go to a 'stupid wedding'. ;)

[dieastra]

Yes, that's how it happened - my parents wanted to marry on Easter Sunday, so all the family could travel down and have a vacation, but that day already was taken. So they just said to take the Sunday of Whitsun instead - without looking at the date ;)

I didn't know that you had this water custom! Only on 1st April? Why? Has it to do with April fools?

[alumfelga]

No, it's an Easter Monday custom and it was a coincidence it was also April Fools' Day that day. Traditionally, boys were allowed to pour water on (unmarried) girls on Easter Monday, as water was a symbol of fertility. If someone pour water on you, apparently you were going to have a good husband and children in the future *shrugs* :) Next day, the girls were allowed to return the favor and pour water on boys. With years, it changed and now everyone can pour water on anyone on Easter Monday. Adults usually don't do it or do it symbologically with just few drops in the family but some children and teenagers like playing with water. When I was little, I remember teenagers gathering outside and fighting with each other with water pistols and bottles. I used to fight with my siblings on the balcony (with my mum always running to get the wet laundry inside). That's why I didn't want to go to the wedding, as Easter Monday was the only day we could play the game :) But the custom seems to be fading out recently. I haven't seen kids and

[dieastra]

Very interesting! I love learning about such things. From a Czech friend who recently went to a wedding, I learnt about them making a "gate" where then bride and groom have to go through. It was beautifully decorated. But surely they only do that in the villages, not in the cities

[alumfelga]

That's ver interesting, I didn't know that custom. I wouldn't know where to find a spring near the house either... A lot of traditions involve water, don't they? I can imagine boys trying to get the girls to say something ;)

Yes, Whitsun is some weeks after Easter.
And it was 1st of April? Easter must have been really early that year!