Every April 1st, people all around the world become wary of the hilarious pranks they may fall prey to, while conceiving their own pranks for others to fall for. But believe it or not, this celebration has not been around forever, although it has been around for a long time. Let's have a look at how April fool's day came about.

Once upon a time, April 1st was celebrated as New Year's Day for the ancient Roman and ancient Hindu cultures, following closely to the vernal equinox on March 20th or 21st. In medieval times, the Feast of Annunciation, which marked the beginning of the New Year in the Europe was held o March 25th. However, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered that a new calendar known as the Gregorian calendar to replace the former Julian calendar. This is when New Year's Day was moved to January 1st instead, where France also followed the move. So how does April fool's day have to do with any of this? The explanation is that the refusal of the people to accept the new date, or simply did not know about it, so the celebration was continually held on April 1st. As a result, other people made fun of those that rebelled or still believed that the New Year was in April, labeling them as €fools€ and sending them on €fool's errands€ to look for something that did not exist, or tricking them into believing that something false as true. Those that were successfully pranked upon would be known as €Poisson d'Avril€, or €April fish€, as young nave fished were easily caught. Some school children would stick a picture of a fish on the back of other schoolmates, and would cry €Poisson d'Avril€ when the prank was discovered. This practice eventually spread throughout to places like Britain and Scotland in the 18th century, before being introduced to the American colonies by the English and French.