April Fools' Day

An annual custom observed on April 1 in which people play practical jokes and try to trick one another, often revealing the joke later that day.

Calendar of 1582: The Gregorian calendar reform introduced in 1582, shifting the start of the year in many countries to January 1. One theory links April Fools' Day to people who continued celebrating the new year around April 1.
BBC spaghetti-tree hoax: A 1957 BBC television report that jokingly depicted a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees. The broadcast is a celebrated example of an April Fools' joke presented as factual reporting.
Practical joke: A prank designed to make someone believe a false situation or experience a staged mishap. Practical jokes are the central activity of April Fools' Day.
Misinformation: False or inaccurate information, whether spread deliberately or unintentionally. A prank presented as news can circulate beyond April 1 and be mistaken for fact.
Gregorian calendar: The calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct accumulated drift in the Julian calendar. The calendar reform is central to the best-known explanation of the custom's origins.
San Serriffe: A fictional island nation created for a 1977 April Fools' newspaper supplement by The Guardian. Its elaborate maps and place names made a printed prank resemble a travel feature.
Hoax: A deliberately fabricated story or event presented as genuine to deceive an audience. Many April 1 pranks work by presenting invented claims as credible news.
Media literacy: The ability to access, evaluate, and interpret information across media formats. April 1 hoaxes reward checking sources before accepting striking claims.
Geoffrey Chaucer: An English poet of the fourteenth century, best known for The Canterbury Tales. A passage in The Nun's Priest's Tale has been proposed as an early April Fools' reference, though its date is disputed.
Taco Liberty Bell: A 1996 Taco Bell advertisement claiming the company had bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it. The corporate prank prompted public confusion and demonstrated the reach of national advertising.

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