The History of April Fool’s Day
By: Janice Harper
Published: April 1, 2011

It’s a curious thing, April Fool’s Day. This day of trickery and teasing has been around for hundreds of years and shows up in more countries than Coca Cola. Well, maybe it’s not quite that global a phenomenon, but it is celebrated in varying respects in the United States, throughout Europe and even India (if you count the March 31, Hindi Huli festival where people smear each other with colorful paints and send their friends on silly “fool’s errands” and goose chases). Yet despite its popular appeal, no one really knows when April Fool’s Day started or why.
Some say the custom began in France when the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582. The year had previously come to an end with a series of festivities during the last week in March, with the New Year celebrated on April 1. But with communication technologies limited to word of mouth, people living in rural areas remained unaware of the change of the New Year from April 1 to January 1. Those who continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1 were considered “fools,” and became the butt of jokes and trickery.
Yet others trace April Fool’s Day to the Nature Feast of the Vernal Equinox in Great Britain and India. A festival of hilarity and feasting was held on the date when day and night were of equal length – usually on or about March 20. As it evolved to become a celebration of the coming of spring, and hilarity turned peasants into pranksters, the tradition of the April Fool’s Day we now know may have begun.
Among the food-related April Fool’s Day tricks has been the Taco Liberty Bell spoof in which Taco Bell caimed that they would buy the Liberty Bell, the Burger King Left-Handed Whopper announcement that they were introducing a new whopper that would dribble in a different direction for left handers, the BBC announcement that a family in Switzerland was harvesting “Spaghetti Trees” causing people to phone in asking how to plant their own spaghetti, and the Yorkshire Diet Tap Water hoax of 2004 when a British television show announced that the city of Yorkshire would soon be producing diet tap water – leading to 10,000 queries from viewers eager to obtain this new low cal water.
But not everyone celebrates April Fool’s Day with a hoax. French epicure, gastronome, attorney and politician, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was born on April 1, 1755. Brillat-Savarin is perhaps best known for his classic book of essays on the delights of food and eating, Physiologie du Gout, or Physiology of Taste. Published in 1825, Physiology of Taste has remained in print since its initial publication nearly two hundred years ago, with a notable English translation from celebrated food writer, M.K.F. Fisher.
To celebrate Brillat-Savarin’s birth, the Edible Book Festival was created in 2000, encouraging bibliophiles throughout the world to bite down on a good book. The festival is held around April 1 in many countries, including Singapore, Romania, Morocco, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the United States. Described as a “world banquet,” individuals or groups submit “bookish” entries that must meet only two rules: it must be completely edible, and it must be inspired by a book or books.
While it’s too late to submit an entry for this year’s festival, it’s not too late to create your own edible book to be consumed with friends and family, or in the perfect solitude of your own delightful company. What better way to celebrate April Fool’s Day than by eating your own words!