It’s not clear where April Fools’ Day originated, or how it reached widespread popularity, but people still relish the one-day opportunity to prank someone, guilt-free, every year.
For Hannah Lewis, sophomore social work major, April Fools’ Day isn’t something she recalls to be very fun.
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“When I was really young, my mom told us that she was going to take us to McDonald’s after the doctor’s and we were really excited,” Lewis said. “After the doctor’s appointment she pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot and asked us if we were excited and then said ‘April Fools! We aren’t going to McDonald’s.’ I think we all cried.”
Like Lewis, what is normally a fun holiday for Nathan Song turned into a tear-filled couple of hours when a close friend faked her death.
“She had her older sister call me and my friend and tell us that she died, it was horrible,” Song said. “They kept it up for three hours and then told us it was a joke. We didn’t talk for a week after that.”
Others have to endure a bit of harmless pranks on April 1. Diamond Grant, a senior economics and psychology double major, can attest to that.
“When I was in high school my friend Abraham called and asked me to go out to eat. When I got to the restaurant, nobody was there. I called him and he said April Fools!” said Grant.
While playing pranks and issuing harmless — in most cases — jokes on one another seems to be the norm on April Fools’ Day, Lory Student Center employee George Vaillancourt and his wife saw it as a perfect way to mock the wedding they were forced to have.
“My wife and I both came from very Catholic families and they wanted us to get married,” Vaillancourt said. “So, we decided to get married on April Fools’ Day because marriage is for fools. On Monday, it will be 34 years that we’ve been married.”
Like Vaillancourt, Song explained that regardless of the joke his friend played on him, he and his friends enjoy celebrating April Fools’ Day at A-Basin to poke fun at the travelers that go through the mountains.
“We usually go skiing for April Fools’ day at A-Basin. We dress up in flamboyant onsies to mock the tourists. It’s a lot of fun,” Song said.
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Whatever the reason to celebrate, be it a day to play jokes without repercussion, a day to go skiing in spandex or even a day to get married, April Fools’ Day has given anyone the opportunity to let out their inner prankster.
Diversity beat reporter Alex Steinmetz can be reached at news@collegian.com.