Poisson d'avril !
Everyone knows April fool’s day. You faites des farces to your friends,
family, and colleagues with something ingenious and funny. Even the media nowadays participates. They create fake histoires
trying to find a perfect balance between something incredible but plausible,
scary but funny…It’s the day everyone’s trying to be funnier than the
others. In some countries though, especially French-speaking ones, it’s also
something more. In France we call it: “Le poisson d’avril”.
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| Poisson d'avril sur Éloïse ! |
As tradition dictates, all pupils
draw and then cut their own paper fish during a good portion of the
morning. Then, as if no one knew what was going on, you would see all the
pupils kindly hugging each other, giving friendly back taps to each other
as if it was the day of recognizing everyone’s cool attitude – “Salut mon ami *tape dans le dos* comment tu
vas aujourd’hui ?”. Only the wisest will use the smoothest approaches
to stick their fish, using tape as gently as possible, maybe using a moment of
confusion or a first fake heavy tap to confuse and then a smooth one. A real ballet of tricksters!
The origins of the poisson d’avril are unclear. Traces of these kinds of
celebrations have been found during the antiquity in Europe. It used to be
called La fête des fous. The “Holi”
Indian celebration, also known as the Festival of colors, has
the same origins. An early theory on the apparition of the fish is tied to Easter. Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full
moon after the 21st of March (yes, it is complicated), which means that the
date often falls in the end of March and beginning of April. Some years, like
this year, it falls on the very first of April. The lent preceding Easter was stark, but opposing to meat, fish was during this period one of the only authorized mets
for people. Others say that it could come from a combination
of the “ichthys”, the fish symbol that is a representations of Jesus, and an alteration of the word “Passion” to the word “Poisson”. The passion of
Jesus becomes then le poisson de Jesus, so le poisson of Easter is the April Fools fish.
Goofy as I was at this age, I can assure you
I used to love it! But for me, April first was also a special day because it
was l’anniversaire de mon grand-père.
I see you already asking yourself, “and so, was he funny?” I’m gonna tell
you. He was the goofiest person you could think of! For me, it was évident that the only reason April Fool’s Day was on the first of April was because HE was born on this very day.
April Fool’s Day in France is a difficult
day to know who your real amis are.
You may receive dozens of hugs but remember, check for fish on your back, otherwise
it will be an invitation to all kinds of bamboozling!
Poisson d’avril – April’s fish
faites
des farces – To prank
histoires – Stories or History depending on the context
l’école
primaire – Elementary school
grave
cool – slang. Awesome
maîtresse – Mistress
Salut mon ami *tape dans le dos* comment tu vas
aujourd’hui ? – Hey buddy *back
tap* How are you today ?
La fête des fous – The mad feast
Mets – Dish
l’anniversaire de mon grand-père – My grandfather’s birthday
évident – obvious
amis – friends
