News & Trends

April Fools Around the World

Reading 5 min Article Intermediate

Vocabulary - 7 contextual words

Grammar - Pronouncing ‘-ed’

Do you enjoy tricking people? If you said yes, then April Fools’ Day is for you! Celebrated by playing pranks on friends and family, this day is fun for everyone!

Exercise

Tap all the highlighted words in the article ⇩ to see their definitions.

How Did April Fools’ Day Start?

Nobody really knows how this celebration began!

Some people think it’s connected to Hilaria, an Ancient Roman celebration. Others believe it started in 16th century France.

We do know that, by the 1700s, April Fools’ Day had come to Scotland with a two-day celebration: Huntigowk Day and Tailie Day.

Jokes Around the World

Just like Scotland, many countries have an April 1 celebration. Others celebrate on different days.

April Fish

In France, Italy, Belgium, and French-speaking parts of Switzerland and Canada, they celebrate April Fish—Poisson d’avril in French and Pesce d’aprile in Italian. It’s common to try to tape paper fish to people’s backs without being noticed.

Maj-kat

Denmark celebrates April Fools’ Day on April 1, but they also have an almost-identical celebration on May 1 called Maj-kat. They must love to play jokes!

Holi

This Hindi spring festival is held in late March. People dance, throw coloured dust and water on one another, and of course, play pranks!

Dia de los Inocentes / Childermas

Held on December 28 in Spain, this day has Biblical origins. It’s in memory of the baby boys that were ordered to be killed by King Herod of Bethlehem. Though it has a sad history, many people commemorate this day by playing jokes on friends and family.

Famous Pranks

Check out these memorable pranks of the past!

Spaghetti harvest

In 1957, BBC News reported that there had been an excellent “spaghetti harvest” in Ticino, Switzerland. They even showed photos of people picking spaghetti from trees.

Cacareco

In 1959, students in Sao Paolo, Brazil, were tired of the condition of their city. They started a joke campaign to elect a rhinoceros for city council. The rhino, Cacareco, won with 100,000 votes!

Big Ben

In 1980, BBC News reported that London’s famous clock, Big Ben, was going to be made digital. Many people were furious!

Have Fun

It’s April Fools’ Day, so get creative and think of some fun pranks to play!

Exercise

Choose the correct word.

April Fools Quiz

Grammar

Ever since

Study the example of ever since + [past simple] + [present perfect] used in the video.

Ever since the Gold Rush brought an influx of Chinese workers, San Francisco has held a massive parade to celebrate Chinese New Year.

We use the structure ever since… + [past simple] + [present perfect] to emphasize and talk about a point in time or an event from which an action started and then continued.

Point in time / event:
The Gold Rush brought an influx of Chinese workers to San Francisco.
(past simple)

Continuing action:
San Francisco has held a massive parade.
(present perfect)