It’s April 1st and time for the world to celebrate the only un-hallmark holiday of the year by perpetrating tricks on the unwitting. Think about it, even secretary’s day and national pencil day get more love than April Fool’s Day! No cards, no candy just cruel jokes.
Like Garfield’s distaste for Mondays, most people are not terribly excited by the arrival of All Fools Day and sometime ago I began asking the question why?
For me April, or really the spring, has always felt like the start of a year. Flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and birds are humping (as the old saying goes ;-). We all know that spring is the birth of a year and that winter is the death of the year, or at least I can feel it to be more true. So why is it celebrated by such a subverted, subjugated and subordinated ritual as pranking people?
Check out the NPR article below for some hilaria on the history of what might have lead up to the current disregarded state of recognizing the true new year.
The History of April Fools Day
I tend to go with my instinct that for eon’s humanity celebrated the new year as the natural cycle intended in the spring. Until the institutions of control lead by the Catholic Church felt it conflicted with their commercial interests and decided it would be better to disrupt God’s plan by putting all of humanity at dis-ease, fooling them into thinking the new year wasn’t here. Argue with me if you will, but it’s a fools errand at best to suggest otherwise.
In fact, why argue at all over a holiday that no one seems to care about anyway? This is the perfect palate for us to paint our own perspectives. Open your heart to making this holiday one of love and celebration for the start of new things. Embrace the day as new beginnings, make it a tradition for trying new things, taking risks and releasing the entrepreneurs within. Put on your best dress foolishness and come out to play! What do you got to loose today? It’s the one day of the year that the world has decided it’s ok to be a fool. It’s ok to just be you.
The artist formerly known as Gregory
A.W.M.
Creativity & Innovation 