Reason #6: You're Francophobic

My final reason for hating April Fool's Day is, to be honest, a bit of a red herring. I've never encountered anyone who hates the holiday because they dislike the French. But given the current fashion for Francophobia, I thought that some might be inspired to adopt this attitude since it is quite likely, after all, that April Fool's Day is of French origin.

According to the French-origin theory, April Fool's Day began in the sixteenth century when France became the first country to switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, following the decree of the Council of Trent. This meant that the end of the year was moved from late March to January 1. Inevitably many were confused by this change, or simply failed to hear about it, and continued right on celebrating New Year's Day on or about April 1. Gaulic pranksters mocked those who were confused by the change by pinning paper fish to their backs (no one knows why they did this). Thus was born the French custom of referring to the victims of April Foolery as 'Poisson d'Avril,' or 'April Fish.'

There's absolutely no evidence to support this theory, but it sounds vaguely plausible, so it could be true. In any case, it does seem likely that the French were among the first to celebrate April Fool's Day, and that the custom spread from there to the rest of Europe, and finally to America. To this day, the French still celebrate the holiday better than anyone else, since they follow the tradition of giving each other chocolate fish on April 1, and I'm very much in favor of any tradition that involves chocolate.


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