April Fool's Day

Why is the April 1st holiday of pranks called April Fool's Day?

The origin of this tradition (and its name) is not known. Several theories behind the name exist, however, including a misunderstood line from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales ("Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two," meaning "thirty-two days after March," was misinterpreted as "March 32nd"), and a reference by the French poet Eloy d'Amerval to poisson d'avril, "April fool" (literally "April fish").

The day was originally called April Fool Day.

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