Ain't we foolish?
Our landlord just came and told me the buzzer for for the front door has been repaired, and one needs to be buzzed in or use a key now.
At some point in near future, Nyx is going to come in and tell me that the front door doesn't open simply on pressure any more. (I'm kinda glad as empty beer bottles indicated some homeless person stayed in our hallway, and yes, I'm scared of alcoholics.)
And I have this vague feeling that April fools' day is also going to be mentioned.
I'm raiding wikipedia for information.
English: April Fools' Day
"It [this custom] is likely a relic of the once common festivities held on the vernal equinox, which began on the 25th of March, old New Year's Day, and ended on the 2nd of April."
In 1564, Charles IX made January 1st New Year's Day, and therefor the festivities and customs were moved to the new date.
"... those who disliked or did not hear about the change were fair game for those wits who amused themselves by sending mock presents and paying calls of pretended ceremony on the 1st of April."
"In France the person fooled is known as poisson d'avril. [...] The French traditionally celebrated this holiday by placing dead fish on the backs of friends. Today, real fish have been replaced with sticky, fish-shaped paper cut-outs that children try to sneak onto the back of their friends' shirts. Candy shops and bakeries also offer fish-shaped sweets for the holiday."
German: Aprilscherz ('April prank')
Lists possible origins
# Some incident in the Diet of Augsburg when the minting should be discussed on April 1st and that never happened.
# Fake rendevouz for Henry IV of France.
# in 1572 the Dutch Geuzen conquered Brielle from the Spanish and made fun od the Spanish governor Alva
# Aprilwetter*
# day of birth or death of Judas Ischariot
# 1st of April used to be a day of bad luck in ancient Europe. (Went to the source) Augustus stated that April 1st was the day of worst luck in the year, that belief probably outlasted some centuries and probably was adopted by the Christians and given a biblical cover. It might be that in the middle ages people acted like fools on April 1st to avoid bad luck.
Dutch: 1 aprilgrap ('1st April prank')
It's unlikely that the changing the date of New Year's Day is the origin of this custom as there are sources reporting April fools' jokes in 1508 (France) and 1539 (Netherlands). It might be that its origins are to find in the aprilweer* and/or in Germanic or biblical myhology. People in the Netherlands often believe the origin of this custom was when the Geuzen conquered Brielle and somebody coined the sentence "Op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril" (On April 1st Alva lost his glasses)
Danish: Aprilsnar ('April Fool')
Nickname for people who let themselves be fooled on April 1st. In Nordic countries there's a correlating nickname for those who haven been fooled on May 1st: Majkat (May cat).
Norwegian: Aprilsnarr ('April Fool')
The custom originates in France where people 'give the April fish', a custom that dates back to the 16. century, when the date of the new year was changed to January 1st. Those who didn't notice were called Poisson d’Avril, which translates as aprilsfisk (okay, okay, April fish 8D).
April Fool's Day is known in all of Europe exept Spain where they celebrate December 28th as Día de los Santos Inocentes.
Even though this day isn't a holiday, it's noticable when it's April 1st throughout the whole land.
(Mentions most explanations I read about in the other entries, plus the Scottish custom of Hunting the Gowk which is mentioned in the English wikipedia, Indian festivities, some Iranian custom.)
(kind of exhausted already, and I'm not even finished with the Germanic languages I understand tidbits of.)
Swedish: Aprilskämt ('April prank')
# possible origin the New Year's festivities and the change of New Year's Day
# other possibility some Roman mythological story which I'm not even trying to understand in Swedish D:
# first account of an April fool's joke in Sweden in the 1670ies
*in some European countries, the weather changes rapidly in April, much more than during the rest of the year. About a week ago we had a day when I counted five graupel showers and three times when the sun was warm and blinding during a single afternoon, and a couple of days ago it snowed while the sun shone. That's Aprilwetter for you! ... it was in March, though.
Two and a half hours since I started; I give up. Maybe I'll try to read Japanese and some Romanic languages some time later today. :D
Uwah, I'm tempted to find out about the mutation of epentheses in Germanic languages.
Wow. The word April looks pretty weird to me now. April. Aprilaprilapril. Uhggh. And I have the nasty feeling this entry contains lots of language transfer.
☆
At some point in near future, Nyx is going to come in and tell me that the front door doesn't open simply on pressure any more. (I'm kinda glad as empty beer bottles indicated some homeless person stayed in our hallway, and yes, I'm scared of alcoholics.)
And I have this vague feeling that April fools' day is also going to be mentioned.
I'm raiding wikipedia for information.
English: April Fools' Day
"It [this custom] is likely a relic of the once common festivities held on the vernal equinox, which began on the 25th of March, old New Year's Day, and ended on the 2nd of April."
In 1564, Charles IX made January 1st New Year's Day, and therefor the festivities and customs were moved to the new date.
"... those who disliked or did not hear about the change were fair game for those wits who amused themselves by sending mock presents and paying calls of pretended ceremony on the 1st of April."
"In France the person fooled is known as poisson d'avril. [...] The French traditionally celebrated this holiday by placing dead fish on the backs of friends. Today, real fish have been replaced with sticky, fish-shaped paper cut-outs that children try to sneak onto the back of their friends' shirts. Candy shops and bakeries also offer fish-shaped sweets for the holiday."
German: Aprilscherz ('April prank')
Lists possible origins
# Some incident in the Diet of Augsburg when the minting should be discussed on April 1st and that never happened.
# Fake rendevouz for Henry IV of France.
# in 1572 the Dutch Geuzen conquered Brielle from the Spanish and made fun od the Spanish governor Alva
# Aprilwetter*
# day of birth or death of Judas Ischariot
# 1st of April used to be a day of bad luck in ancient Europe. (Went to the source) Augustus stated that April 1st was the day of worst luck in the year, that belief probably outlasted some centuries and probably was adopted by the Christians and given a biblical cover. It might be that in the middle ages people acted like fools on April 1st to avoid bad luck.
Dutch: 1 aprilgrap ('1st April prank')
It's unlikely that the changing the date of New Year's Day is the origin of this custom as there are sources reporting April fools' jokes in 1508 (France) and 1539 (Netherlands). It might be that its origins are to find in the aprilweer* and/or in Germanic or biblical myhology. People in the Netherlands often believe the origin of this custom was when the Geuzen conquered Brielle and somebody coined the sentence "Op 1 april verloor Alva zijn bril" (On April 1st Alva lost his glasses)
Danish: Aprilsnar ('April Fool')
Nickname for people who let themselves be fooled on April 1st. In Nordic countries there's a correlating nickname for those who haven been fooled on May 1st: Majkat (May cat).
Norwegian: Aprilsnarr ('April Fool')
The custom originates in France where people 'give the April fish', a custom that dates back to the 16. century, when the date of the new year was changed to January 1st. Those who didn't notice were called Poisson d’Avril, which translates as aprilsfisk (okay, okay, April fish 8D).
April Fool's Day is known in all of Europe exept Spain where they celebrate December 28th as Día de los Santos Inocentes.
Even though this day isn't a holiday, it's noticable when it's April 1st throughout the whole land.
(Mentions most explanations I read about in the other entries, plus the Scottish custom of Hunting the Gowk which is mentioned in the English wikipedia, Indian festivities, some Iranian custom.)
(kind of exhausted already, and I'm not even finished with the Germanic languages I understand tidbits of.)
Swedish: Aprilskämt ('April prank')
# possible origin the New Year's festivities and the change of New Year's Day
# other possibility some Roman mythological story which I'm not even trying to understand in Swedish D:
# first account of an April fool's joke in Sweden in the 1670ies
*in some European countries, the weather changes rapidly in April, much more than during the rest of the year. About a week ago we had a day when I counted five graupel showers and three times when the sun was warm and blinding during a single afternoon, and a couple of days ago it snowed while the sun shone. That's Aprilwetter for you! ... it was in March, though.
Two and a half hours since I started; I give up. Maybe I'll try to read Japanese and some Romanic languages some time later today. :D
Uwah, I'm tempted to find out about the mutation of epentheses in Germanic languages.
Wow. The word April looks pretty weird to me now. April. Aprilaprilapril. Uhggh. And I have the nasty feeling this entry contains lots of language transfer.
☆