ALL FOOLS DAY
LIGHT-hearted Merrie England of the Middlte Ages initiated the observance of All Fools Day, though why April the First should be set aside for the celebration is one of the mysteries which surrounds the origin of most of our famous anniversaries. From the simplicity of rustic England springs the. quaint v old ceremony of merry making and laughter. 'April Fool' was the legitimate gag applied by all classes of people to the victims of practical jokes. It was a day of celebration and fun, when whole communities turned out to watch the 'May-pole' dancing and the games played by young and old. Gap and Bells, the jester was the centre of all the fun and this worthy set himself out to be as great a fool as ever. The old customs of the past> have long since lost their meaning. -The dancing and the / feasting lies buried in the far-off annals of time when simpler things pleased and joy was never artificial. Yesterday we marked the day with a faint echo of its past hilarity— by merely a catchword of its innocent foolery. In common with the world at large we exercise only a remnant of the one time feast of laughter and happiness.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19430402.2.11.2
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 61, 2 April 1943, Page 4
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207ALL FOOLS DAY Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 61, 2 April 1943, Page 4
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