What is April Fool's Day and how did it begin? Well, that is a very good question. The origin of this holiday is rather uncertain. However, the common belief holds that during the reformation of the calendar the date for the New Year was moved from April 1st to January 1st.

During that time in history there was no television and no radio so word spread slowly. There were also those who chose to simply ignore the change and those who merely forgot. These people were considered "fools" and invitations to non-existent parties and other practical jokes were played on them. "All Fools' Day" is practiced in many parts of the world with practical jokes and sending people on a fool's errand.

Another thought is that the origin began with the celebrations of the Spring Equinox.

In Scotland, for example, April Fool's Day is actually celebrated for two days. The second day is devoted to pranks involving the posterior region of the body. It is called Taily Day. The origin of the "kick me" sign can be traced to this observance.

In France, he is the "poisson d'Avril" or "fish of April." The fish in April are newly hatched and easily caught. In Portugal: April Fool's is celebrated on the Sunday and Monday before Lent. The traditional trick there is to throw flour at your friends.

Pranks performed on April Fool's Day range from the simple, (such as saying, "Your shoe's untied!), to the elaborate. Setting a roommate's alarm clock back an hour is a common gag. Whatever the prank, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim, "April Fool!"

Some of the famous April Fools jokes often appear in the National newspapers or as part of large company advertising campaigns. Here is is few to ponder over:

Local April Fool's 2005
Here is a selection of the pranks played on All Fools Day 2005 More...

Whistling Carrots April 2002
The British supermarket chain Tesco published an advertisement in the Sun Newspaper announcing the successful development of a genetically modified 'whistling carrot.' Tapered airholes inside the vegetable cause it to whistle when properly cooked.

Pet Tax April 2002
WIOQ, A Philadelphia radio station, announced that the city would be instituting a Pet Tax to raise money to offset the debt. $10 for the first 10 pounds per pet and $1 for each additional pound per pet. If the tax is not paid, the pet would be taken and put to sleep (for tax evasion).

Sky Becoming Less Blue April 2001
The British Mail on Sunday announced that the sky was becoming less blue. It cited a five-year study conducted at the Koenraad University in Amsterdam which had used special digital cameras and color charts to measure subtle shifts in the sky's color. The study's researchers had found that the "'coefficient of blueness'... has drastically diminished in five years from 9.3 per cent in 1996 to just 6.9 per cent this year." They attributed this color change to the effects of air pollution and the depleting ozone layer. The article explained that, "Particles of airborne pollution are thought to be creating a thick blanket of dirty grey." This blanket of pollution was preventing the 'scattering' of sunlight as it passed through the atmosphere, causing the sky to darken. Astronomer Patrick Moore was quoted as saying, "There's an awful lot of pollution, making the sky turn a strange russety colour." The Mail on Sunday invited its readers to help the researchers in Amsterdam by taking part in a "mass observation" scheduled to occur between 10am and noon on April 1. A "Skyometer" had been printed on the right side of the page that provided a graded chart of different shades of blue. By holding this chart up to the sky, readers could determine which shade best matched the color of the sky. They were asked to mail their results to the Mail on Sunday, which would forward them to the Amsterdam researchers. The reference to astronomer Patrick Moore should have given readers a clue that the article was a hoax. Moore is famous for an April Fool's Day prank he perpetrated on the audience of BBC Radio back in 1976 in which he claimed that a rare alignment of the planets was temporarily going to lessen the earth's gravity.

Dog Trainer Contracted Foot and Mouth Disease April 2001
The Sunday London Times revealed that a famous British dog trainer, Barbara Woodhouse, had once contracted foot and mouth disease. Woodhouse, who died in 1988, was well-known as a TV personality. As the Times noted, "Her ringing catchphrases 'Walkies!' and 'Sit-t!' swept the nation." The article claimed that Woodhouse contracted the disease while working as a "horse whisperer" on a ranch in Argentina during the 1930s. She did not catch the disease from the horses, however, but rather from the free-roaming Hereford cows that lived in the region.

Downloadable Money April 2001
Abbey National, a British bank, revealed an April Fool's Day joke that never came to fruition. It planned to offer its customers the ability to download and print money from their home computer. An Abbey National employee said, ""We were going to say that it would suit all those couch potatoes who don't want to go to the bank to get their money out. We would make available a system where you could download money from your personal computer and print it out on paper at home." However, the Bank of England, citing concerns about encouraging forgery, strongly advised Abbey National not to proceed with their joke.

Internet Spring Cleaning April 1997
A message spread throughout the internet announcing that the internet would be shut down for cleaning for 24 hours from March 31st until April 2nd. This cleaning was said to be necessary to clear out the "electronic flotsam and jetsam" that had accumulated in the network. Dead e-mail and inactive ftp, www, and gopher sites would be purged. The cleaning would be done by "five very powerful Japanese-built multi-lingual Internet-crawling robots (Toshiba ML-2274) situated around the world." During this period, users were warned to disconnect all devices from the internet. The message supposedly originated from the "Interconnected Network Maintenance Staff, Main Branch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology." This joke was an updated version of an old joke that used to be told about the phone system. For many years, gullible phone customers had been warned that the phone systems would be cleaned on April Fool's Day. They were cautioned to place plastic bags over the ends of the phone to catch the dust that might be blown out of the phone lines during this period.

Keep an eye out for this year's howlers..

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day.
But why the people call it so,
Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.
Poor Robin's Almanac (1790)