The custom of setting aside a day for the playing of harmless pranks upon one’s neighbor is recognized everywhere.[1]Some precursors of April Fools’ Day include the Roman festival of Hilaria,[2] the Holi festival of India,[3] and the MedievalFeast of Fools.[4]
In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392), the “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.[5] Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon.[6] Thus the passage originally meant 32 days after March, i.e. 2 May,[7] the anniversary of the engagement of KingRichard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean “32 March”, i.e. 1 April.[8] In Chaucer’s tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox.
In 1508, French poet Eloy d’Amerval referred to a poisson d’avril (April fool, literally “April fish”), a possible reference to the holiday.[9] In 1539, Flemish poet Eduard de Dene wrote of a nobleman who sent his servants on foolish errands on 1 April.[7] In 1686, John Aubrey referred to the holiday as “Fooles holy day”, the first British reference.[7] On 1 April 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to “see the Lions washed”.[7]
So there you have it, I decided not to play any tricks on the misses or the boys or any of you as we all have enough going on, but the day isn’t over so look out!
Yesterday we settled back into our normal routines with the boys in school and Lori and I at work. I need to call Harry today as he should be arriving from California sometime in the next few days or early next week. This morning I need to run up north, then head west and then down south, so I’ll be just about everywhere except on the eastern plains.
Rain and snow return this evening and will stick around until Saturday morning. This means no way will we have our first baseball game Friday night. That’s ok with me as it gives us another week to get our team together as we still have a lot to learn.
Looks like Easter dinner will be at our house which is fine. It’s probably the easiest for everyone, especially the boys who can play outside.
That’s about it, hopefully this is the last snow storm of the year. Last year we had snow in early May though so you never know.
Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.