DOCSLIB.ORG

April 1 – a Day with a Long History of European Tradition and Mischief

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
April 1 – a Day with a Long History of European Tradition and Mischief April 1 – a day with a long history of European tradition and mischief March 30, 2012 By U.S. Army Europe Public Affairs Tweet HEIDELBERG, Germany -- April Fool’s Day is this weekend, and that means mischief. Social Media Facebook But where did it all begin? Across Europe there are many explanations for this day of pranks, and many ways of…er…celebrating…the day. Twitter Flickr Here are some bits of European April Fool’s lore and lunacy: YouTube Some historians suggest that the tradition began with ancient festivals such as Hilaria, celebrated by the Romans at the end of March and Saturnalia in late December, both of which included celebrations involving play acting and costumes. Some speculate that the day was once tied to the vernal equinox -- the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere -- when Mother Nature fooled people by sending them changing, unpredictable weather. British folklore traces April Fool’s Day to the Gotham, the “town of fools” in Nottinghamshire. Legend has it that because 13th-century tradition made any road used by the king public property, the citizens of Gotham spread a false story designed to stop King John from passing through their town. The king found out about their deception, however, and sent a messenger to the town to demand an explanation. What the messenger found in Gotham was a town that appeared to be engaged in foolish activities such as drowning fish or attempting to cage birds in roofless pens. Of course it was all an act, but it tricked the king, who declared Gotham too foolish to punish. Ever since, April Fool’s Day supposedly commemorates the Gothamites’ foolery. Some sources say the first mention of April Fool’s Day appeared in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, released in 1327. Others say it dates to the 16th century, when the Council of Trent changed the calendar from the Julian to Gregorian version and moving New Year’s from March to January 1, and people who continued to celebrate the New Year on the old date of April 1 were teased for being fools. While in many countries custom calls for playing April Fool’s pranks only before noon, in Scotland, the celebration lasts 48 hours and is centered on a custom of harassing friends known as “hunting the gawk” (or sometimes the “gowk”), or the cuckoo. On the second day, called ‘Taily,’ pranksters attach ‘kick me to their victims. In France, April fools are known as “poissons d’avril” or “April fish.” A common belief is that that the name comes from the fact that in early spring fish were so plentiful that they could easily be lured into traps. This evolved into a popular custom among French children of sticking a picture of a fish on an unsuspecting victim’s back. The fish theme is seen in other countries as well, such as Italy, where fools are also called April fish -- “pesce d’aprile”, and Sweden, which has a popular rhyme that translates as “April, April, you dumb herring, I can lure you wherever I want.” In Poland, prima aprilis, Latin for April 1, is a day for jokes and hoaxes. The media plays along by publicizing hoax information, and even public institutions get in on the act. Serious activities are usually avoided; this conviction is so strong that an anti-Turkish alliance with Leopold I signed on April 1, 1683 was backdated to March 31. Speaking of media, the British media are well known for their April Fool’s spoofs. A classic 1957 BBC hoax reported on the bumper spaghetti crop in southern Switzerland. But the tradition is still going strong. A sampling of 2010 gags compiled by the Associated Press includes The Sun’s claim that it developed the first flavored newspaper page for readers to try (though it warned the flavoring “may contain nuts”); the BBC’s “revelation” that William Shakespeare was half French; the Daily Mail’s story on the fitting of Automobile Association mechanics with jet packs to fly over traffic jams to help broken-down motorists; the Daily Mirror’s picture of Queen Elizabeth jetting off to her official duties on a budget airline; and the Independent’s report that scientists wanted to turn a London subway line into a particle accelerator. About us: U.S. Army Europe is uniquely positioned to advance American strategic interests across Eurasia and has unparalleled capability to prevent conflict, shape the environment and, if necessary, win decisively. The relationships we build during more than 1000 theater security cooperation events in more than 40 countries each year lead directly to support for multinational contingency operations around the world, strengthen regional partnerships, and enhance global security..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Magic in Private and Public Lives of the Ancient Romans
    COLLECTANEA PHILOLOGICA XXIII, 2020: 53–72 http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/1733-0319.23.04 Idaliana KACZOR Uniwersytet Łódzki MAGIC IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LIVES OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS The Romans practiced magic in their private and public life. Besides magical practices against the property and lives of people, the Romans also used generally known and used protective and healing magic. Sometimes magical practices were used in official religious ceremonies for the safety of the civil and sacral community of the Romans. Keywords: ancient magic practice, homeopathic magic, black magic, ancient Roman religion, Roman religious festivals MAGIE IM PRIVATEN UND ÖFFENTLICHEN LEBEN DER ALTEN RÖMER Die Römer praktizierten Magie in ihrem privaten und öffentlichen Leben. Neben magische Praktik- en gegen das Eigentum und das Leben von Menschen, verwendeten die Römer auch allgemein bekannte und verwendete Schutz- und Heilmagie. Manchmal wurden magische Praktiken in offiziellen religiösen Zeremonien zur Sicherheit der bürgerlichen und sakralen Gemeinschaft der Römer angewendet. Schlüsselwörter: alte magische Praxis, homöopathische Magie, schwarze Magie, alte römi- sche Religion, Römische religiöse Feste Magic, despite our sustained efforts at defining this term, remains a slippery and obscure concept. It is uncertain how magic has been understood and practised in differ- ent cultural contexts and what the difference is (if any) between magical and religious praxis. Similarly, no satisfactory and all-encompassing definition of ‘magic’ exists. It appears that no singular concept of ‘magic’ has ever existed: instead, this polyvalent notion emerged at the crossroads of local custom, religious praxis, superstition, and politics of the day. Individual scholars of magic, positioning themselves as ostensi- bly objective observers (an etic perspective), mostly defined magic in opposition to religion and overemphasised intercultural parallels over differences1.
    [Show full text]
  • Newsletter Nov 2011
    imperi nuntivs The newsletter of Legion Ireland --- The Roman Military Society of Ireland In This Issue • New Group Logo • Festival of Saturnalia • Roman Festivals • The Emperors - AD69 - AD138 • Beautifying Your Hamata • Group Events and Projects • Roman Coins AD69 - AD81 • Roundup of 2011 Events November 2011 IMPERI NUNTIUS The newsletter of Legion Ireland - The Roman Military Society of Ireland November 2011 From the editor... Another month another newsletter! This month’s newsletter kind grew out of control so please bring a pillow as you’ll probably fall asleep while reading. Anyway I hope you enjoy this months eclectic mix of articles and info. Change Of Logo... We have changed our logo! Our previous logo was based on an eagle from the back of an Italian Mus- solini era coin. The new logo is based on the leaping boar image depicted on the antefix found at Chester. Two versions exist. The first is for a white back- ground and the second for black or a dark back- ground. For our logo we have framed the boar in a victory wreath with a purple ribbon. We tried various colour ribbons but purple worked out best - red made it look like a Christmas wreath! I have sent these logo’s to a garment manufacturer in the UK and should have prices back shortly for group jackets, sweat shirts and polo shirts. Roof antefix with leaping boar The newsletter of Legion Ireland - The Roman Military Society of Ireland. Page 2 Imperi Nuntius - Winter 2011 The newsletter of Legion Ireland - The Roman Military Society of Ireland.
    [Show full text]
  • Varro's Roman Seasons
    HAL, Submitted 30 November 2019 Varro's Roman Seasons A. C. Sparavigna1 1 Dipartimento di Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy The four seasons of the Roman calendar, as described by Marcus Terentius Varro, are different from our seasons, in the sense that they start on days which differ from those that we are using today. In his Books on Agriculture, Varro shows that the Roman seasons started on the Cross Quarter-days instead than on the Quarter-days of the year as it happens today. Besides the classic subdivision in four parts, in the Books on Agriculture we can also find the year divided into eight parts, that is eight seasons having quite different lengths. In our discussion of Varro's seasons we will compare the days he mentions for the separation of seasons to the Cross Quarter- and Quarter-days that we find in Celtic calendars. Keywords: Chronology, Roman Chronology, Julian Calendar, Celtic festivals. DOI:10.5281/zenodo.3559524 Marcus Terentius Varro (116 - 27 BC) was a Roman scholar and writer. In his political career, he became tribune of the people, quaestor and curule aedile. Supporting Pompey, Varro reached the office of praetor [1,2]. He was also one of the members of the commission that carried out the agrarian plan of Julius Caesar for the resettlement of Capua and Campania (59 BC) [2]. During the civil war, Varro commanded one of Pompey's armies in Spain. After the battle of Pharsalus, he reconciled with Julius Caesar, and Caesar appointed him to oversee the public library of Rome [1].
    [Show full text]
  • Calendar of Roman Events
    Introduction Steve Worboys and I began this calendar in 1980 or 1981 when we discovered that the exact dates of many events survive from Roman antiquity, the most famous being the ides of March murder of Caesar. Flipping through a few books on Roman history revealed a handful of dates, and we believed that to fill every day of the year would certainly be impossible. From 1981 until 1989 I kept the calendar, adding dates as I ran across them. In 1989 I typed the list into the computer and we began again to plunder books and journals for dates, this time recording sources. Since then I have worked and reworked the Calendar, revising old entries and adding many, many more. The Roman Calendar The calendar was reformed twice, once by Caesar in 46 BC and later by Augustus in 8 BC. Each of these reforms is described in A. K. Michels’ book The Calendar of the Roman Republic. In an ordinary pre-Julian year, the number of days in each month was as follows: 29 January 31 May 29 September 28 February 29 June 31 October 31 March 31 Quintilis (July) 29 November 29 April 29 Sextilis (August) 29 December. The Romans did not number the days of the months consecutively. They reckoned backwards from three fixed points: The kalends, the nones, and the ides. The kalends is the first day of the month. For months with 31 days the nones fall on the 7th and the ides the 15th. For other months the nones fall on the 5th and the ides on the 13th.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Festivals Lupercalia, Saturnalia, and Lemuria Were Three of Rome's
    1 The festivals Lupercalia, Saturnalia, and Lemuria were three of Rome’s most important celebrations. Each were valuable to the empire, as they celebrated the gods that acted as the stitches of Rome that pulled the diverse parts of the land together. The festivals also dealt with the spirits that were thought to haunt the city, whether it was to dispel them or celebrate their memory. This trio of festivals impacted the development of Rome’s culture and influenced holidays celebrated today. Most importantly, though, while Lupercalia, Saturnalia, and Lemuria each honored various gods and had differing rituals, all of them helped to shape Rome into a dominant empire. Lupercalia is one of the oldest Roman festivals, meant to celebrate love, to purify the city from evil spirits, and to aid with fertility. Celebrated from the thirteenth of February to the fifteenth, Lupercalia dates possibly to before Rome was established as a city. Because it is celebrated to honor the she­wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome, the festival’s name derives from the Latin word for wolf, “lupus” and translates to “wolf festival.” The festival has a number of rites to be performed. The priestly Luperci, who were considered to be brothers of wolves, took command of those rites. The Luperci would only wear goatskins during the festival. There were three sectors of Luperci: the Quinctiliani, the Fabiani, and the Julii (who were created in honor of Julius Caesar). Directed by the Luperci, the festival began with the sacrifice of two male goats and one dog.
    [Show full text]
  • Post Scriptum: a Number of Observations, with Hindsight
    Post Scriptum: A Number of Observations, with Hindsight Astronomia Etrusco-Romana was first published in Italian in 2003, following Astronomy and Calendar in Ancient Rome—The Eclipse Festivals in 2001, and Le Feste di Venere—Fertilità femminile e configurazioni astrali nel calendario di Roma antica in 1996. In nigh on a decade of ‘‘crazy, desperate’’ study, as Giacomo Leopardi would have it, I have reconstructed a solid framework of the Roman calendar’s astronomical underpinnings, especially the Numan calendar. Stars, Myths and Rituals in Etruscan Rome makes only minimal adjustments to this framework, as well as adding some interesting elements to the fray. Over this time—and at long last—there has been a radical change in our understanding of man’s relationship with the heavens during the time of Rome’s early kings. The eighth century BCE calendars that have survived the centuries are no longer viewed as the basic calendars of an agricultural and pastoral society, lacking in any consideration for heavenly phenomena or the movements of heavenly bodies; calendar feast days are no longer considered simple anniversaries of natural events, such as storing away grain or lambing time. On the contrary, the Romulean calendar demonstrates an awareness of a number of significant celestial phenomena, while the Numan calendar and cycle are a highly advanced—indeed, close to perfect—mechanism for monitoring observable movements in the solar system. The end result of this research is a demonstration not just that Romans in Augustus’ day were mistaken in their belief—asserted time and time again by Ovid, our best witness1—that Romans were uninterested in and had no understanding of astronomy.
    [Show full text]
  • A Roman Cult in the Italian Countryside? the Compitalia and the Shrines of the Lares Compitales
    0821-07_Babesch_83_08 23-09-2008 16:06 Pagina 111 BABESCH 83 (2008), 111-132. doi: 10.2143/BAB.83.0.2033102. A Roman cult in the Italian countryside? The Compitalia and the shrines of the Lares Compitales T.D. Stek Abstract The Roman religious festival of the Compitalia (‘cross-roads festival’) was celebrated in both city and coun- tryside. It is generally assumed that it originated as a rural cult which was later incorporated in the city, where it became the principal festival of the vici or urban quarters. In this paper it will be argued that the spread of the Compitalia might have been in the opposite direction; in this view the Compitalia, a Roman urban festi- val with administrative aspects, was spread outside Rome alongside Roman influence. It is not known where the Compitalia were celebrated in the countryside. It will be suggested that ancient ‘Italic’ sanctuaries have been re-used for celebrating the Roman rite of the Compitalia, apparently by now functioning within a Roman administrative and religious system.* the separation between city cult and family or farm cult should not be exaggerated (Beard/North/Price 1998, 50) INTRODUCTION. THE COMPITALIA: A PARADOXICAL both to what we would define the ‘private’ and PICTURE to the ‘public’ domain. Another paradoxical aspect regards the location At the end of a letter to Atticus (2.3), Cicero of the Compitalia. The festival is often associated writes, probably from his country house, after with the urban plebs, and therefore placed in an having referred to the political situation in Rome urban setting.
    [Show full text]
  • Nota Bene-- C:\USERS\GRAF.65\DESKTOP
    CHAPTER F IVE THE L UPERCALIA F ROM A UGUSTUS TO C ONSTANTINE P ORPHYROGENITUS LUPERCALIA AFTER A UGUSTUS Like many other festivals of the city of Rome, the Lupercalia became almost invisible during the first three centuries of the Imperial epoch. Only because of their special social cachet did the Luperci and their rites not entirely become invisible during the imperial centuries. Theirs was the only priestly sodalitas that Augustus reserved for the knights, whereas all other sodalitates became the privilege of the senatorial aristocracy. To be made a lupercus turned into a highly- coveted status symbol of “near-aristocracy” that was publicly marked with the statue of the new lupercus already in Julio-Claudian times – a new habit of this age, as the Elder Pliny tells us, himself of an equestrian background 1. Inscriptions from both Rome and the provinces show how to be adlected a lupercus in Rome was viewed as an important early step of an equestrian cursus honorum ; sacris ____________________________ 1Plin. Nat. 34.18: Among the Roman innovations in the iconography of statues Lupercorum habitu tam noviciae sunt quam quae nuper prodiere paenulis indutae ; see Veyne (1960), 105. – On the transformation of the Lupercalia between Caesar and Augustus see Ferriès (2009). -2- Festivals in the Greek East lupercalibus functo , “to have performed one’s duty as a lupercus” remained a major career step through most of the imperial age 2. The last lupercus whom we meet in inscriptions is L. Crepereius Rogatus, vir clarissimus , a member of the senatorial elite of the earlier fourth century, a young man when Diocletian came to power 3.
    [Show full text]
  • The Argei: Sex, War, and Crucifixion in Rome
    THE ARGEI: SEX, WAR, AND CRUCIFIXION IN ROME AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Kristan Foust Ewin, B.A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2012 APPROVED: Christopher J. Fuhrmann, Major Professor Ken Johnson, Committee Member Walt Roberts, Committee Member Richard B. McCaslin, Chair of the Department of History James D. Meernik, Acting Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Ewin, Kristan Foust. The Argei: Sex, War, and Crucifixion in Rome and the Ancient Near East. Master of Arts (History), May 2012, 119 pp., 2 tables, 18 illustrations, bibliography, 150 titles. The purpose of the Roman Argei ceremony, during which the Vestal Virgins harvested made and paraded rush puppets only to throw them into the Tiber, is widely debated. Modern historians supply three main reasons for the purpose of the Argei: an agrarian act, a scapegoat, and finally as an offering averting deceased spirits or Lares. I suggest that the ceremony also related to war and the spectacle of displaying war casualties. I compare the ancient Near East and Rome and connect the element of war and husbandry and claim that the Argei paralleled the sacred marriage. In addition to an agricultural and purification rite, these rituals may have served as sympathetic magic for pre- and inter-war periods. As of yet, no author has proposed the Argei as a ceremony related to war. By looking at the Argei holistically I open the door for a new direction of inquiry on the Argei ceremony, fertility cults in the Near East and in Rome, and on the execution of war criminals.
    [Show full text]
  • General Index
    GENERAL INDEX Absyrtus 34 7 Allecto 106, 109 Achates 180 Allius (in Catullus) 107-8 Achelous 288, 292, 301 Alpheus 284 Achilles 128, 249, 288-89 + n. 53, Althea 291 289, 317' 322, 394-96 Amata 106-7, 109 Acmon 322 Amor(es) 242, 405 Acoetes 265-66, 292 see also Cupid Acontius 137-38 Amphimedon 241 Acrisius 289 anachronisms 280, 316, 320, 377, Actaeon 262-64, 379-80, 433 422 Actium, battle of 204 Romanizing 306, 315, 325 Adonis 286, 377 analepsis see flashback adynaton/ a 342, 365-66, 374 Ancaeus 377 Aeacus 284 Anchises 179, 223 Aeneas 128, 206, 312, 326, 437 ancile 224-25, 230 apotheosis of 199-200, 311-12, Andromeda 240-42, 244, 289 321-27, 329 Anna (sister of Dido) 180-81 in Fasti 179-80, 182, 203, 212, Anna Perenna 172, 183, 198, 214, 230 213 n. 43, 397 in Met. 309-12, 322-24, 326-27 identified with Anna, sister of Dido Virgil's 128, 179-80, 207, 240-42, 180 244-45, 249, 263, 289, 396 Antimachus 50 Aesacus 307, 318-19, 326 Antinous 242 Aeschylus 130, 259, 267 Antony, Marc (Marcus Antonius) 8, see also tragedy, Greek 197 n. 2, 206 Aesculapius 173-74 Aphrodite 173, 212 Aetas Ovidiana 413, 422 see also Venus see also Ovid, medieval reception of; Apollo 11-12, 47, 67, 84, 163, Ovid, works of, s.v. transmission 177-78, 184, 186, 230, 376, 437 Aethion 241 Callimachean 28, 175 aetiology 174-75, 178, 193-95, oracle of, at Delos 263 208-9, 213, 248, 252, 257, 274, oracle of, at Delphi 240, 250, 253, 276-77, 318-19, 324, 326, 398 263 see also 'aition' in Met.
    [Show full text]
  • GCSE (9-1) Classical Civilisation
    Qualification Accredited Oxford Cambridge and RSA GCSE (9–1) Candidate style answers CLASSICAL CIVILISATION J199 For first teaching in 2017 J199/11 Myth and Religion Version 1 www.ocr.org.uk/classics GCSE (9–1) Classical Civilisation Candidate style answers Contents Introduction 3 Question 8 4 Question 11 8 Question 21 12 Question 22 14 Question 23 16 Comparative essay questions 18 2 © OCR 2018 GCSE (9–1) Classical Civilisation Candidate style answers Introduction OCR has produced this resource to support teachers in interpreting the assessment criteria for the new GCSE (9–1) Classical Civilisation specification and to bridge the gap between new specification’s release for first teaching in September 2017 and availability of exemplar candidate work following first examination in summer 2019. The questions in this resource have been taken from the J199/11 Myth and Religion specimen question paper, which is available on the OCR website. A couple of the images in this resource differ slightly from the specimen paper due to copyright restrictions. The answers and examiner commentary in this resource have been written by a senior examiner. Please note that this resource is provided for advice and guidance only and does not in any way constitute an indication of grade boundaries or endorsed answers. Whilst a senior examiner has provided a possible level for each response, when marking these answers in a live series the mark a response would get depends on the whole process of standardisation, which considers the big picture of the year’s scripts. Therefore the levels awarded here should be considered to be only an estimation of what would be awarded.
    [Show full text]
  • Bishops and People Looking for Local Religious Life in Late Antiquity
    DOI: 10.46586/er.12.2021.8775 Entangled Religions 12.1 (2021) License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 er.ceres.rub.de Bishops and People Looking for Local Religious Life in Late Antiquity MAIJASTINA KAHLOS University of Helsinki, Finland ABSTRACT The religiosity of late antique and early medieval communities in the Mediter- ranean world has been vigorously examined and debated. This religious life has been called (among many other terms) ‘popular Christianity,’ ‘local Christianity,’ the ‘second church,’ ‘Religion zweiter Ordnung,’ and ‘the third paganism.’ In my article, I analyse late antique religious life from the viewpoint of encounters—between the ideals of the ec- clesiastical elite and the people’s local cultic practices. These practices, embedded in the local communities, varied by regions, but we can see similarities in the interaction of bish- ops with their local population. I will show how the ecclesiastical writers portrayed local cultic practices in negative terms as another religion (‘paganism,’ ‘idolatry,’ ‘demonic/ diabolic practices’), divergent from their own (‘Christianity’), or even as a distortion be- yond ‘proper’ religion (‘magic,’ ‘superstition,’ ‘sacrilege’). In my analysis, I discuss and test various approaches that scholars have developed to understand the tensions between the bishops and the local people: David Frankfurter (local religion), Rubina Raja and Jörg Rüpke (local lived religion), and Nicola Denzey Lewis (magic as lived religion), Lisa Kaaren Bailey (lay religion) and Lucy Grig (popular culture). My focus is on the western Mediterranean world from the fourth to sixth centuries, and the cases of polemical en- counters I analyse come from the writings of North Italian, Gallic and Hispanic bishops (Paulinus of Nola, Maximus of Turin, Philaster of Brescia, Caesarius of Arles, and Martin of Braga).
    [Show full text]