The Origin of April 1 as April Fool's Day

Subject:    Re: The origin of APRILFOOL
From:       jai@mantra.com (Dr. Jai Maharaj)
Message-ID: <dEaZxQ9zBczB089yn@mantra.com>
References: <4jp5l6$1o4k@mercury.cc.uottawa.ca>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,alt.astrology,
            alt.astrology.asian,alt.jyotish,soc.culture.usa,
            alt.culture.hawaii,alt.fan.jai-maharaj,
            hawaii.nortle,talk.religion.newage
Date:       April 5, 1996

In the article <4jp5l6$1o4k@mercury.cc.uottawa.ca>,
 of 1 Apr 1996 18:01:10 UTC,
 "Mrinal Kr. Mandal" <mandalm@marge.genie.uottawa.ca> wrote:
> Today is 1st april. Does anybody know the origin of
> Aprilfool ?  Thanks.  Mrinal

Yes, certainly.  New Year's Day was celebrated in France on
March 25 until the year 1564 CE.  However, since March 25
frequently occurred during the so-called Holy Week, Christians
usually postponed New Year's Day festivities until April 1.
Later, when January 1 was designated as New Year's Day some
people continued to celebrate it on April 1 and were labeled
poissons d'avril, or "April fish".  They were the original
April Fools.

Dr. Jai Maharaj
Jyotishi, Vedic Astrologer
http://www.flex.com/~jai

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