The origin of April Fool’s Day is mysterious. My favourite version is that until the 18th century the New Year was celebrated in some places on March 25th (the feast of the Annunciation), with a week-long party ending on April 1st. When the church changed the official date to January 1st in 1654, people began to make fun of the “fools” who stuck to the old ways. Whatever the reason, jokes have been played across Europe on April 1st since at least the 17th century.
In France and Italy the tradition is to try to stick a fish (usually made of paper) on a person’s back without them noticing and I think this is much nicer than some of the more slapstick pranks played elsewhere.
One of my favourite craft blogs had this
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a few years back and it inspired me to look for other craft-y fish. Why not let these inspire you to try some gentler and more creative April Fool’s this year?
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My version of April Fish? We’re going to have sushi for dinner…
