So it's April Fool's Day again...

... and time for silly jokes and pranks. But many are unaware of the origins of April Fool's Day.

In days of old, people were struggling with the unenviable task of perfecting a calendar that could reconcile the frustrating difference between solar and lunar cycles. Of course, religion had to get in on the act, too. Noted celebrations, such as the solstices and equinoxes, which are unavoidably attached to these cycles, would drift around the calendar to to the point where, in 1580, the Spring Equinox was 10 days earlier on the calendar than it was in the sky. The heavens resisted all of Pope Gregory XIII's efforts to change them, so it was decided to change the calendar. All this drifting also adversely affected holidays like New Year's Day.

A goodly while before Pope Gregory was even born, the Romans had moved New Year's Day from March to January. During the Middle Ages it was shifted back to March 25, Annunciation Day. The good times started on the 21st and wound up on April 1st. The adoption of the Gregorian Calendar kicked it back to January 1st again. Some folks refused to conform to the change, preferring the old April 1st date. Their more progressive neighbors teased them, calling them "April Fools". So, there you have it.

Consider yourselves enlightened.