'April Fools': do you know the origin of this formula?

Symbol of French mischief, April 1 is placed under the sign of the fish. The 360 Post returns to the origin of this strange day.

The children cherish her. Adults are not left out. Fish hooked in the back and jokes (more or less) funny, April 1st is the favorite day of jokers. This is a dream opportunity! Jokes and pranks, funny or heartbreaking, are the kings of the day. But where does this custom come from? What is a “fish” doing in this story? The 360 Post takes stock.

Why a fish for April 1st?

The animal has been a symbol in our iconography for millennia. In ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, "the fish was a sign of life and fertility", underlines the French Academy. The animal becomes for the first Christians a “sacred symbol, often associated with the figure of Christ”.

The formula "April Fool" dates back to the 15th century, in 1466. The "April Fool" is then a "matchmaker, intermediary". He is also this “young boy responsible for carrying his master’s love letters”, we read in the thesaurus.

It was not until two centuries later, in 1691, that the phrase designated a “deception, (a) traditional mystification of April 1st”. Little by little, its meaning approaches that which we know of it. In the 18th century, “to give someone a fish” meant “to make someone believe false news on the first day of April, or to force him to take some useless step in order to make fun of him”.

Why do we make jokes on April 1st?

If the origins of this day are not attested with certainty, a hypothesis is considered. We have to go back before 1564, when the first day of the year was still celebrated on April 1. The custom was then to exchange presents to celebrate the new year: the famous “new year’s gifts”. This tradition would have been perpetuated, despite the Edict of Roussillon established by King Charles IX in 1564, which fixes (without our having definitive proof) the first day of the year on January 1st.

Another hypothesis: April is the month of the opening of fishing. A favorite period for seasoned fishermen, it would have given rise to our fish exchange.

Last possible origin: April marks the end of Lent, a period of fasting for Christians. For forty days and until Easter, fish is favored by the faithful as “lean food”.

If we are not certain of the authenticity of these explanations, one obvious fact remains: on April 1, in the country of Rabelais, Molière and Feydeau, facetiousness reigns.