There was a

time when April Fool's Day had a lot of meaning.

The first

of April was celebrated as the beginning of the New Year

for people in 16th century France, until Pope Gregory

introduced a new calendar in 1562. From then on people

celebrated the New Year Jan. 1 and those that did not

change over to the new tradition were called the April

Fools.

Since then

April Fool's Day has blossomed into an extravaganza of

pranks. Each country has its own traditon for the holiday

and, without a doubt, America puts the most creative

energy into it.

The current

trend in France is to tape a paper fish to the back of a

person. When the victim finds the paper fish, the

prankster shouts "poisson d'avril" or

"April Fish." In England, pranks are allowed

only during the morning and the person who gets pranked

is considered to be the noodle.

Scotland's

April Fool's day celebration lasts for two days. If you

get pranked, you are considered to be the April Gowk,

which is a cuckoo bird. The second day of April Fool's

day celbration in Scotland is called Taily Day and all

the pranks involve the buttocks. One example is the

classic "Kick Me" sign being placed on one's

posterior.

As for the

United States, the pranks around here are used to trick

people into believing things that are completely untrue.

Publications run fake articles about people running for

office, half truths are stretched to test the gullibility

of friends and family and pranks are pulled throughout

the day.

Some

classic pranks that have made their mark on our nation

are the whoopee cushion, the joy buzzer, fake blood and

fish-flavored gum.

Mark Twain

once said, "The first day of April is the day we

remember what we are the other 364 days a year." We

may be fools, but the fun is finding out who is the

bigger fool.

don't forget to set your clocks back on Friday night.

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