April Fools’ Day, in most countries the first day of April. It received its name from the custom of playing practical jokes on this day—for example, telling friends that their shoelaces are untied or sending them on so-called fools’ errands. A successful April Fools’ Day prank ends with the exclamation of the phrase “April Fool!” by the prankster. April Fools’ Day somewhat resembles Hilaria, a festival of ancient Rome, held on March 25.
Although April Fools’ Day has been observed for centuries, its true origins are unknown and effectively untraceable. Some have proposed that the modern custom originated in France, officially with the Edict of Roussillon (promulgated in August 1564), in which Charles IX decreed that the new year would no longer begin on Easter, as had been common throughout Christendom, but rather on January 1. Because Easter was a lunar and therefore movable date, those who clung to the old ways were the “April Fools.
Some scholars have speculated that a line in Geoffrey Chaucer’s beast fable called “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales may refer to April Fools’ Day, though the tale does not explicitly mention April Fools’ Day traditions
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