Fish on April Fool's Day in France?! | Mini Content

If you take a look inside a French school on April 1st, you'll see children secretly trying to stick a fish-shaped illustration on their teacher's back.

April 1st is April Fool's Day. In Japan, it's a day when it's okay to tell lies. In French, it's called Poisson d'avril (April fish). Eh... What is April fish?

The reason why April 1st became "Lie Day" in the first place... Long ago, in Europe, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25th, and spring festivals were held until April 1st. However, in 1564, King Charles IX of France adopted a calendar that changed the New Year to January 1st. This caused people to rebel and start making April 1st the "Lie New Year," causing mayhem . Charles IX cracked down on this very harshly, arresting many people in town who were celebrating the "Lie New Year" regardless of age, and executing them one by one. The people of France were so shocked by this incident that they began to celebrate the "Lie New Year" with great fanfare every April 1st, so as not to forget the incident. This was the beginning of April Fool's Day, a rather mysterious event.

But where does the fish come from?

Yes, April Fool's Day has another origin.

Long ago in France, fishing was prohibited in early April, the fish breeding season. However, anglers who still wanted to eat fish would secretly carry small fish home by hanging them on their backs so as not to be noticed. When they were found out, they would lie and say, "No, no, I'm just kidding. I'm not going fishing..." As time went on, these stories evolved into a "prank" where people would attach paper fish to their backs instead of raw fish.