The Ely miner., 1934-03-30


N of its symbolism unmarried by any
49, sacrilegious shouts of April foolw?
Or shall the youngsters exercise their right to
spool" each other and their elders on this day
which, by tradition and by custom, is dedicated
to the practical joker? Truly it is 'perplexing
problem of conduct" and one wonders how they
will solve it to the satisfaction of both them
selves and their elders.
Fortunately, perhaps, such situation doesn't
arise very often. The rules by which the date
of Easter Sunday is fixed allow this to happen
only about every II years Within the memory
of most people living it has happened
only four times. In 1865 Easter Sunday came
on April 1, again in 1877 and again in 1888.
Logically it would seem that the next time would
be in 1899 but, due to the vagaries of our cal
endar, the eleven-year-Old rule didn't work. For
in 1899 it was one day off that schedule and
Easter Sunday in that year came on April 2. 1t
didn't get back on the eleven-year rotation until
1923 when Easter Sunday and April Fools day
coincided That happens again this year and
will happen again II years from now in 1915.
Although Easter Sunday and April Fools day
seem utterly inconsistent, so far as the essential
spirit of each is concerned, 1t is interesting to
note that, historically, they trace back to SINH
lar Origins-religiOus festivals among the an
cients celebrating the coming of spring. Although
we modernS have changed the form and the
meaning of these festivals, we have retained some
of the very same symbols which those ancients
used.
The celebration of April Fools day is usually
traced back to the festal rites of the period Of
the vernal equinox in Persia. 1t was the day
when the Persian New Year began and was very
close to the old English New Years day of
March 25. The sun was then entering into the
sign of the frisky and playful Aries, it was
appropriate that on that day the "season of rur-
al sports and vernal delights" began. In India
there was similar celebration on March 81,
called the Hull festival, which was a time for
general holiday and many jests, including the
practice of sending people on long and fruitIess
errands.
From the Orient the custom came into western
Europe many centuries ago. The ancient Ro-
mans took delight in planning all sorts of prac-
teal jokes in connection with their feast of the
Saturnalia and more particularly in playing
harmless, though often very humiliating jokes on
each other at the time Of the athletic tourna-
ment, held in honor of Neptune, around April
l. One solemn antiquarian has declared that
the first big April Fool joke in history was the
time the Romans invited the Sabines to attend
this Neptune celebration and then carried off
by force the best looking Sabine women to be-
come their wives. But it is doubtful if this his
toric theft was perpetrated as an April Fool
joke. Certainly, the Sabines didn't think much
of it.
tival of Fools on April 1, in which every kind
of absurdity and indecency was committed"
The ancient pagan origin is easily discoverable
In this festival. Even the early Christian church
in that country celebrated the day by a species
of more less lcentious festival. The unholy
rites were finally prohibited by papal edict, on
pain of anathema But All Fools day is still
a sportive one in France. Their term for April
Fool is poisson dAvril," term which means,
according to one explanation, a young fish and
therefore fish easily caught. When Napoleon
married Maria Louisa, Archduchess Of Austria,
April !. 1910, it gave the waggsh Parisians
an excellent chance to whisper among them
selves that he was "un poisson d'Avril"
When Lord Bolingbroke on April 1, 1712 pro-
claimed that in the glorious wars of Queen
Anne" the duke of Marlborough had not lost a
single battle. and yet admitted that the French
had had their way about the Spanish success
sion the supposed bone of contention in the
war, Jonathan Swift remarked that the state
ment was singuarly appropriate one for All
Fools day. For April foong has been prevalent
in Great Britain for centuries. There 1t usually
took the form of sending innocents upon sleeve
less errands"
In northern England and Scotland this prac-
tce was called Hunting the Gowk." An old
couplet says:
ION the first day of Aprile
Hunt the Gowk another mile"
The word "gowk" in reality means a cuckoo
and was used metaphoricaly for fool which un-
doubtedly is the origin of the modern slang
phrase: "To knock a man cuckoo" There are
plenty of connecting threads among all these
words, "Gauch" in Teutonic is a fool, whence
get our word gawky and "geac" in old Saxon
a cuckoo whence is derived "geck." mean
ing one easily imposed upon
Just as April Fools day had its origin In pagan
festivals, from which It has departed long
way, so did Easter have such origin. The
Christian peoples of the world. of course, cele-
hrate 1t as the anniversary of the resurrection
of Christ. but in some of its elements includ-
ing that essential of a resurrection 1t traces
far back beyond the beginning of the Christian
era to the religious rites Of several different