Did you know… what innocent Spanish children have to do with April 1st?

Student or not - on this one day of the year, everyone is the same: potential victims of bad jokes. Why are we so collectively okay with it? And the question of all questions: Where does April 1st actually come from?

The answer: we don't really know. A widespread story takes us back to 16th century France. The calendar was reformed there in 1564: The beginning of the year was moved from April 1 to January 1. Sounds harmless - but back then it meant that anyone who didn't notice the calendar change and continued to celebrate New Year in April was ridiculed. Perhaps these were the first “April fools”.

Another theory refers to ancient Roman spring festivals such as “Hilaria” - a day full of disguises and laughter where people were allowed to play tricks on each other. The Indian spring festival Holi is also colorful and exuberant - including pranks. So perhaps the origin lies in the age-old desire to welcome spring with humor?

We will probably never know for sure. But what we do know is that April 1st looks a little different everywhere.

In France, for example, it is the “Poisson d'avril” - the “April fish”. Children (and often adults too) try to secretly stick a cut-out paper fish on their backs. Whoever doesn't notice is the fish. Whoever notices is allowed to laugh. And whoever carries the fish undetected the longest - well, he's the winner.

In England, jokes are only played until midday on April 1. After that, it's your own fault if you still fall in.

In Spain, on the other hand, Prank Day takes place on December 28 - the “Day of Innocent Children”, similar to our April Fools' Day, but with a completely different background.

April 1st is the one day of the year when you are officially allowed to have silly ideas without having to give a lecture about them. And let's be honest: especially at the end of the exam period and the beginning of the new semester, a bit of humor is a good change from the usual university routine.