April Fool's Day 2014: Religious Origins Of The World's Silliest Holiday

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/april-fools-day-2014_n_5045190.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Salt Lake Tribune | by Peggy Fletcher Stack
Posted: 03/31/2014 1:01 pm EDT Updated: 04/01/2014 9:59 am EDT



MORE: April Fools Day When Is April Fools Day April Fools Day History April Fools Day Origins April Fools Day 2014 Where Does April Fools Day Come From April Fools Day Traditions Religion News
(RNS) Let’s be clear: April Fools’ Day is not a religious holiday.

It does, however, trace its origins to a pope.

The day began, most believe, in 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII decreed the adoption of the “Gregorian calendar” — named after himself — which moved New Year’s Day from the end of March to Jan. 1.

The change was published widely, explains Ginger Smoak, an expert in medieval history at the University of Utah, but those who didn’t get the message and continued to celebrate on April 1 “were ridiculed and, because they were seen as foolish, called April Fools.”

more at link

[struggle4progress]

1. This account makes no sense. The Roman New Year in the Julian calendar was 1 January.

Common alternative New Years in later Christendom were the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March), Easter, and Christmas (25 December), varying by locale; the papal bull did set 1 January uniformly as the beginning of the year

None of these common alternate New Years was 1 April, and none was obviously related to 1 April by the 10 day forward date shift (of the 1582 papal bull), intended to bring the calendar date of the vernal equinox back to approximately 21 March

There is a possible confusion about the relation of the date of the vernal equinox to the new calendar that might have been possible sometimes in the early years after the reform was proposed -- namely, if one takes the vernal equinox as 21 March or 22 March and (incorrectly) adds ten days, one obtains 31 March or 1 April for the beginning of spring: here the foolish error is that the Gregorian correction has been applied twice. Such confusions might have been understandable in regions where some people continued to follow the Julian and others the Gregorian calendar -- and could have been reinforced by the fact that Easter Sunday 1584 in the Gregorian scheme fell on 1 April, since Easter always occurs in the spring by definition (being the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox)

[cbayer]

2. I just heard today that "April Fools" is celebrated in late November in Mexico.

Who knew?