April Fool’s! Has anyone played a trick on you yet? April Fool’s Day is a lighthearted holiday that’s been around for centuries and is still much loved today, especially by pranksters. With today’s technology and social media, some April Fool’s jokes have even gone viral!   No one is sure how, exactly, April Fool’s Day began. Some believe it is a celebration of the changing seasons, while others think it originated from the adoption of the new calendar in the 1500s, which we still use today.   Those who connect April Fool’s Day to the change of season believe the holiday comes from ancient cultures like the Romans, who held a festival named Hilaria shortly after the vernal equinox at the end of March. This festival, along with similar versions from other cultures, was a day of foolishness. The idea behind these lighthearted celebrations comes, perhaps, from the notion of “Spring Fever,” where the warm change in weather makes people act irrationally.   The other possible explanation for April Fool’s Day comes from the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar, which we use to this day. Before then, the new year had been celebrated on April 1^st, but the new calendar shifted New Year’s Day to January 1^st. A popular explanation says that many people didn’t know about the new date or refused to change their celebrations, and they continued to celebrate New Year’s in April. Those who were aware of the new date made fun of them… and so April Fool’s Day was born!   Whatever the reason April Fool’s Day came about, we’re glad that there’s at least one day of the year when silliness and humor are celebrated, and we can stop taking ourselves so seriously. Bring some laughter into your life this April!