An April Fool's Tale?
April Fool's Day
During the 16th century, the calendar had become so far off that Pope Gregory VIII decided to order a recalculation of the correct dates. Furthermore, the practice of celebrating the new year would no longer begin on April 1 as had been the custom but instead should be celebrated on January 1. Most of Europe went along with the change as it corrected serious errors in the planting season, shipping and commerce and religious dates. However, as bad feelings were common amongst Catholics and Protestants, many Protestants ignored the change ordered by the Catholic Pope and continued to use the old calendar. To them, the new year began on April 1and they would continue to celebrate it on that date. They became known as April fools or the fools of April. Many Europeans started sending out invitations to phony new year's eve parties and engaged in other forms of trickery and foolery against the Protestants. Thus the custom of an April fools prank still in use to this day and the Gregorian Calendar which we use without question.
