April Fool's Day (April Fool's Day) is a folk festival in Western countries every year on April 1st. April Fool's Day originated in France. In 1564, France first adopted the new calendar method, the Gregorian calendar that is currently used, and regarded January 1 as the beginning of the year. But some conservative people still stubbornly celebrate the New Year on April 1 according to the old calendar. Those who advocated reform made a mockery of these conservatives. On April 1st, they sent fake gifts and invitations to fake receptions, and called the deceived conservatives "April fools" or "baited fish." From then on, people fooled each other on April 1, which became a popular custom in France. At the beginning of the 18th century, the custom of April Fool's Day was spread to Britain, and then brought to the United States by early immigrants from Britain.
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April 1st every year is April Fool’s Day, a traditional folk festival in the West and the United States. April Fool's Day originated in France. In 1564, France first adopted the newly reformed calendar system-the Gregorian calendar (the current Gregorian calendar), with January 1st as the beginning of the year. However, some conservative people oppose this reform and still stubbornly send gifts on April 1 to celebrate the New Year according to the old calendar. Those who advocated reform ridiculed the practices of these conservatives.
Smart and funny people gave them fake gifts on April 1st and invited them to fake receptions. And the conservatives who were deceived were called "April fools" or "baited fish". From then on, people fooled each other on April 1, which became a popular custom in France. At the beginning of the 18th century, the custom of April Fool's Day was spread to Britain, and then brought to the United States by early immigrants from Britain.
On April Fool's Day, people often organize family gatherings and decorate the room with daffodils and daisies. The typical traditional approach is to decorate a fake environment. You can decorate the room like Christmas. You can also arrange it like a New Year, and when guests come, wish them "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year", which is unique and interesting.
Fish feast on April 1st. It’s also unique. Invitations to a sex banquet are usually small colorful fish made of cardboard. The dining table is decorated with green and white colors. Put a fish tank and small and exquisite fishing rods in the middle. Each fishing rod is tied with a green streamer and hung with gifts for the guests - either a delicate celluloid fish or a fish basket filled with candies. It goes without saying that all the dishes at the fish feast are made of fish.
At April Fool’s Day parties, there is also a custom of making fake dishes. Someone once described a typical April Fool's Day recipe: first a "salad" with lettuce leaves sprinkled with green pepper, but when the leaves were uncovered, it turned out to be an oyster cocktail underneath; the second course was "roasted potatoes." , actually underneath were sweet bread crumbs and fresh mushrooms; the dishes that followed included roast chicken disguised as crabmeat and raspberry ice cream buried under a tomato salad. After the meal, guests can also enjoy candy from the pill box.
However, the most typical activity of April Fool's Day is that everyone makes fun of each other and teases each other with lies. Some people leave their wallets tied with thin strings on the street and pull the other end of the string in the dark. Once someone picks up the wallet, they yank it away unexpectedly. Others put bricks under broken hats in the middle of the road, and then waited to see who would kick them. Children will tell their parents that there is a hole in their schoolbag or there is a black spot on their face. When the adults leaned over to take a look, they shouted "April Fool". He smiled and ran away. In short, every April Fool's Day, zoos and aquariums will receive many calls to Mr. Fish (fish) and Mr. Leon (lion), which often causes the staff to cut off the phone lines in order to reduce trouble. .
Today's April Fool's Day in the United States is mainly a holiday for naughty boys.
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It is said that April Fool’s Day originated from a very famous Greek myth and legend.
Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, is a well-known god among women and children in Greece. She has boundless magical power, which can make the land fertile and the crops abundant, or she can make the fields barren and all things withered. She is also one of the most revered goddesses among the Greek gods. Zeus, the king of gods, is her brother and her husband. This identity alone is enough to make the gods bow at her feet.
However, the life of this powerful goddess was not perfect. Relying on his status as the king of gods, Zeus flirted with women everywhere and had many romantic affairs, which brought endless troubles to Demeter. The only thing that allowed her to enjoy the joy of life was her daughter Persephone, a smart, beautiful, innocent and lively girl she had with Zeus. With her, no one would be sad or sad.
On this day, Hades, the king of Hades, was driving around Sicily, and happened to be seen by Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, who was walking in the clouds. At the same time, she saw someone who was walking in the fields. Persephone and her companions Athena, the goddess of war, and Artemis, the goddess of hunting.
As soon as she saw these people, Aphrodite became furious. These men and women never talk about love or marriage. Does she still have the status of the god of love in their eyes? Athena and Artemis are famous chaste goddesses, and both are famous for their martial arts skills and vast supernatural powers, so it is better not to mess with them.
But there is no need to be polite to this little girl Persephone.
So Aphrodite, with a sacred halo on her head, called her son Eros, the little god of love, and said to him: "Look, how these people treat love. ? If men and gods follow their example, how can we rule the world? Come, shoot an arrow at Hades and make him fall madly in love with Persephone! ”
E Ross is a perfect marksman. He bent his bow and shot hard, an invisible arrow of lust piercing Hades' heart. Then, he followed Aphrodite and walked away, waiting to watch the show.
Sure enough, after Hades was hit by the arrow, he developed an unforgettable love for Persephone. But he understood very well that this famous beauty would never be willing to give up the sunny earth and sky and follow him to the dark Hades. Therefore, he went to his brother Zeus, the king of the gods, and asked him to marry his daughter to Hades.
"This...I can't make the decision," the Lord of the Gods said thoughtfully, "You also know that Demeter is very difficult to deal with. However, if you have the ability, Perce I don’t object to Feunie snatching her away.”
Hades was filled with joy after receiving the tacit approval and hint from the God King, and he immediately returned to the underworld and prepared to snatch the bride.
One day, when Persephone was bending down to pick a wild flower in the field, a wide crack suddenly opened in the earth. Then, a gleaming golden car rushed to the ground, and the driver was the majestic Pluto. Without any explanation, he picked up Persephone and put her on the seat next to him. With a shout, the carriage sank into the ground at an unreachable speed. The cracked earth suddenly closed up, and the sun was still bright and the grass was green. Except for the sound of Persephone's cry for help echoing in the sky, it seemed like nothing had happened. Demeter heard her daughter's heart-wrenching cry for help from a very far away place. But when she flew back as fast as she could, her daughter was gone. She only knew that her daughter had been kidnapped by a "robber", but there was no clue as to who the robber was. Those gods who knew Persephone's whereabouts remained silent. They knew the background of this matter. Zeus and Hades were not easy to mess with, and no one wanted to get into trouble. Several gods were anxiously questioned by the police, and they also talked nonsense about east, west, north and south. The goddess followed their instructions and ran around like a headless fly. Needless to say, these treks turned out to be in vain.
However, her love for her daughter prompted Demeter to search endlessly. No matter what any god said, she believed it. Although later facts proved that those were complete lies. In desperation, she lit two pine torches in the unfathomable Etna crater, illuminating the whole world. Since then, neither the goddess of dawn nor the goddess of night has been seen sitting down to rest for a moment.
In this way, Demeter traveled to every corner of the world. But, as if her daughter had been swept away by the wind, melted by the sun, or turned into vapor and floating clouds, there was still no trace. The gods gradually turned from sympathy to disgust towards her. Because this "madwoman" is looking for her daughter, she has disturbed the world without a moment of peace. They became more and more amused by her, pointing sometimes to the southeast, sometimes to the northwest, just to take her away and live a peaceful life for a few days.
In the end, Demeter had no choice but to drag her tired body back to Sicily, where Persephone disappeared. After running around for so many days, you don’t even know who the culprit is. You can imagine the goddess’s anger. So, she vented all her resentment on the Sicilian farmers. She killed all the cattle on the island, ordered the land to be as hard as steel, sealed the seeds in the ground, and made all the plants turn yellow and wither. This vast island was devastated and starved to death.
Zeus saw that she was making such a big fuss, so he "kindly" advised her to look elsewhere and not take it out on the innocent peasants. Unaware of the deceit, Demeter once again embarked on a journey of sightseeing. This is a terrible situation. I don’t know how many places have lost their harvest due to the anger of the goddess, and there is a desperate atmosphere of famine and famine everywhere.
When she realized that she had fallen in love with her husband again, she calmed down and thought about what to do. Unintentionally, she raised her head and saw a man driving a golden chariot in the vast space. The traveling sun god Helios. It suddenly occurred to me that he was the only one who was above everything, could see everything clearly, and nothing that happened in the world could escape his eyes. Then, holding a torch in hand, he flew to Helios and asked him for guidance.
The great sun god sympathizes with the goddess's plight, but does not need to fear the power of Pluto. Moreover, he did not want Demeter to continue to make such a fuss and let the gods laugh and the common people suffer, so he described the situation of Hades' bride-robbing in detail. Demeter suddenly realized, but it was too late. At this moment, Persephone, under the coercion and inducement of Hades, had become the noble queen of the underworld and could no longer reunite with her mother on earth. What's more, no matter how powerful Demeter was, she couldn't take her daughter away from Hades.
Demeter knew that she had been deceived and fooled by the gods, and her resentment and anger deepened. She simply gave an order to let all the plants in the world wither, all the crops to die, and no trace of green to be allowed to appear on the earth.
He hid in a remote place and never showed up again.
As a result, everything in heaven and earth was in chaos. The people have no food to eat, and thousands of people starve to death every day. Groups of dead souls swarmed into Hades, making noisy noises that made Hades upset and embarrassed. Because the gods could not get the sacrifices and gifts from the world, they were all starved to death. Zeus had no choice but to let Persephone live in Hades for 1/3 of the year and return to the human world for 2/3 to serve her mother. From then on, whenever Persephone stayed in the underworld, Demeter would become sad and the earth would be in depression. Once her daughter is reunited with her, the goddess will beam with joy, and the world will once again be full of vitality, with vegetation reviving and flowers blooming.
Obviously, in this story, Demeter is a complete fool. She did not know the trick of the god of love, nor the complicity of her husband and Hades. After the incident, she was surrounded by the gods, and was repeatedly deceived and teased. Since then, people have established April Fools' Day, using white lies to warn those who think they are smart not to do stupid things that make people laugh because of their gullibility.
In addition to the above story, there is another legend about the origin of April Fool's Day. In the Middle Ages, most Christian countries used the Julian calendar and celebrated New Year's Day from March 25 to April 1. According to custom, on April 1st, people give each other gifts to congratulate each other. In 1752 AD, the Gregorian calendar was implemented and the New Year was moved to January 1. However, old customs die hard and people are still willing to send gifts to others on April 1st. This "New Year" itself is false. Later, some pranksters simply turned the gifts into fake ones. It was said to be a box of snacks, but there might be a rock inside. He claimed to go to visit, but the owner was kept waiting for a long time. The people who were deceived were not willing to accept it, so they took the medicine according to the prescription and retaliated. Over time, it became April Fool's Day.
Today, April Fool's Day has developed into an international holiday, popular in almost all of Europe and North America. Scotland calls those who are deceived on this day "cuckoos", which seems to still have some relationship with the goddess of agriculture. The French call it "April fish". This is probably because the small fish just hatch in April and swallow the bait in a daze, making it easy to get hooked!
As time goes by, the tricks used to trick people on April Fool's Day have also been renovated and full of new ideas. For example: a newlywed wife may receive a letter reporting her husband's infidelity, a mediocre civil servant may receive a promotion order, and a son may receive a telegram announcing his father's death. On April 1 of a certain year, the British "Daily Mirror" published a photo of a man whose face resembled the president of a certain country, holding an almost naked beauty with one arm. If you believe all of these things to be true, you will be deceived. Of course, if you are really fooled, you don't have to be as angry as the goddess Demeter. It's better to show some "gentleman" demeanor and laugh it off, which is in line with the true meaning of being kind to others on April Fool's Day.