Презентация "April Fool's Day"

April Fools’ Day

МБУ ДО ЦДОД Октябрьского района,

г. Ростов-на-Дону,

Подчалимова Ю.В.

April Fools’ Day—occurring on April 1 each year—has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools' Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools' Day prank. While its exact history is shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools' Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life.

Origins of April Fools' Day

Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April.

Origins of April Fools' Day

People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Hilaria in Ancient Rome

Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to festivals such as Hilaria (Latin for joyful), which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March by followers of the cult of Cybele. It involved people dressing up in disguises and mocking fellow citizens and even magistrates and was said to be inspired by the Egyptian legend of Isis, Osiris and Seth.

There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

History of April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

April Fools' Day Pranks

In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and websites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences.

April Fools' Day Pranks

In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees. In 1985, Sports Illustrated writer George Plimpton tricked many readers when he ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour.

THE HARVESTING OF SPAGHETTI FROM A 'VINE' ON THE CEILING OF LO SPIEDO, AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT IN LONDON, 1961. THE CEREMONY IS IN RESPONSE TO A HOAX BROADCAST BY 'PANORAMA' ON APRIL FOOLS' DAY 1957, IN WHICH BROADCASTER RICHARD DIMBLEBY REPORTED ON THE GROWING OF SPAGHETTI TREES IN SWITZERLAND.

April Fools' Day Pranks

Now famous for its annual hoaxes, Google played its first April Fools’ Day prank in 2000. Visitors to the search engine’s website learned about a new “MentalPlex” technology that supposedly read people’s minds, thereby bypassing the need to type in a query. Google has orchestrated an increasing number of elaborate ruses in the years since, announcing such products and features as Google Nose, Gmail Motion and PigeonRank.

In modern times people prefer playing inoffensive jokes over their colleagues or friends. Most popular jokes include sending someone to look for things that don’t exist or making people to believe hilarious things.

Интернет-ресурсы:

• https://ya.ru/images/search?img_url=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-3JKaKOoVhZM%2FVv5gfDw1yvI%2FAAAAAAAAYHY%2Fimc1dYVVIq4O12iReD1U00tYAPKZ8FLDg%2Fs1600%2Fkeep-calm-it-s-only-april-fool-s-day-2.png&lr=39&nomisspell=1&p=1&pos=24&rpt=simage&source=related-query-serp&text=april%20fools%20day%20in%20great%20britain
• https://www.bkc.ru/blog/interesting/yazykovoy-smak/april-fool-s-day-istoriya-traditsii-i-samye-znamenitye-pervoaprelskie-pranki/?ysclid=lg4ptvzmzc750225914
• https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/april-fools-day
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day

Thanks for your attention!