How Did April Fools’ Day Start

Many countries such as Brazil, India, USA, France and more celebrate April Fools’ Day by playing pranks on one another. Although celebrating April Fools’ Day is a common event that comes up every year, no one knows how it started.

A popular theory is that April Fools’ day started when the French government decided to change their calendar from the Gregorian to the Julian calendar in 1564.  According to the Gregorian calendar, new year was celebrated during Easter, around the end of March to the 1st of April. When the Julian calendar was introduced, the new year fell on January 1st. Even then, many French people continued to celebrate the new year around April 1st. Hence they were called “April Fools.”