Recently my wife and I were discussing common sense and that our granddaughter, Luna, possesses a lot of it for being only 5 years old. Actually, all our grandchildren have a lot of common sense and we asked ourselves, “Why is that?”
One answer is that they have grown up in a family that prides itself on pranks and jokes, and after years of being repeatedly tricked, they have learned to question everything and be less gullible. My youngest grandson, Owen, was born on April Fools’ Day, and early indications are that he will be an epic prankster in a family full of them.
The Bible states in Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” A Google search for “Laughter is the best medicine” will yield over 100 million results, some stating that it relieves stress, some claiming that those who smile and laugh often add an average of seven years to their lives. Laughter appears to be serious stuff.
So, in honor of all the jokesters, pranksters and jesters out there who make us laugh and add joy and years to our lives, this April Fools’ article is for you.
The exact origin of April Fools’ Day is unknown, but historians have traced its roots back centuries. One theory is that it dates back to ancient Rome and a festival called Hilaria, held at the end of March near the vernal equinox, celebrating the end of winter gloom with masquerades and merriment.
Another theory is that it dates all the way back to 1582 when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. In the Julian calendar, the new year began on April 1. News traveled very slowly back then, so those who didn’t get the message that the calendar had shifted continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1 and were called April Fools.
My first memory of being pranked was by my stepfather.
My brother and I had lived in town before my mom married my stepfather, who immediately moved us to a farm in rural Iowa. He referred to us as “city slickers,” and as young boys with no previous father figure, we were motivated to prove our worth to him on the farm.
The first challenge he gave us was to find rooster eggs. We would run out to gather eggs in the morning before school and then run in and ask him if we had found any rooster eggs. He would carefully inspect them and tell us no, we had not found any. He told us that rooster eggs are special, and that you can tell them from hens’ eggs because they have large brown spots. The next day, we’d gather and show him eggs with brown spots, only for him to say the spots weren’t big enough and to keep looking. This went on for days, until my mom finally had mercy on us and formally educated us on eggs, hens, roosters and how the process really worked. Decades later, my stepfather would randomly ask me if I had found any rooster eggs lately and laugh a bit.
One of my favorite April Fools’ pranks involves my wife. I am a well-known prankster and with that reputation, people start to suspect everything that seems questionable, making every subsequent prank harder to pull off. Enter my sweet, kind, loving wife, Tracy, the trusted one.
For April Fools’ Day one year, she purchased whole pigs’ feet, boiled them in a big pot on the stove and served them up for dinner. I am sure there are good recipes for pigs’ feet out there, but putting whole pigs’ feet in a pot of boiling water with no seasoning yields a somewhat alien-looking and terrifying delicacy. Tracy made the normal side dishes, set the table and very sweetly called the kids down for dinner. Once the kids were seated, she very quietly grabbed a pair of tongs and served each of us a whole boiled pig foot. We said grace, and then Tracy and I casually grabbed our knife and fork and began cutting on our pigs’ feet. It was at this point that the kids went into hysterics saying, “What is this?” “This is disgusting,” and “There is no way I am eating this.” To be fair, it was a pretty smelly and gruesome affair. Tracy then very calmly said, “April Fools’” and went and got a meatloaf out of the oven.
In a world that has become all too divided, with a recent Gallup poll indicating that unhappiness is at a record high, with people feeling more anger, stress and worry than ever before, a little laughter probably is the best medicine. I hope that you and your family find some laughter and fun this April Fools’ Day and keep it going the rest of the year.