"April 1st" / Why today is April Fools’ Day and its origin

April 1st is known in many countries as April Fools’ Day. But what is this day and where does it come from?

April 1st was once celebrated as New Year’s Day, but with the change of the calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, New Year’s Day was set on January 1st. However, some people continued to “fool themselves” and celebrate it on April 1st, while others mocked them.

According to an explanation by Professor Joseph Boskin, this day originated during the reign of Constantine, when a jester named Kugel told the emperor that he could run the empire better.

Constantine found this amusing and allowed Kugel to become emperor for a day, on April 1st, which Kugel then declared as the Day of Fools.

This explanation was published in 1983 by Associated Press, but there was one problem—Boskin had made it up as an April Fools’ joke.

It took Associated Press some time to realize it was a hoax and to apologize to its readers. Today, April 1st is celebrated in Europe as April Fools’ Day, with people playing pranks and jokes on one another.

What is the most famous April Fools’ joke?

The BBC is known for one of them. In 1957, thousands of viewers believed a report broadcast by the media giant, claiming that scientists in Switzerland had discovered trees that grew spaghetti. In 2012, Louis Tomlinson of the music group One Direction fooled fans by saying he was going to become a father.

One of the craziest pranks is considered to be that of an American woman who was arrested by the police after claiming she had killed her husband.

“KORÇA BOOM”