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When is April Fools' Day?
April Fools' Day falls on Thursday, April 1, 2027.
About April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day falls on April 1 every year and is kept in many cultures as a day for practical jokes, hoaxes and pranks. Its origins are unclear. The earliest possible references date from the late 14th century, and one theory links the day to the shift of the new year from late March towards January 1. In the UK the custom is that pranks must be played before noon, and anyone who plays a trick after midday becomes the April Fool. Newspapers, brands and broadcasters often run elaborate hoax stories on April 1, the best known being the BBC's 1957 report on the spaghetti tree harvest. April Fools' Day is not a public holiday.
One of the most famous hoaxes is the BBC's 1957 spaghetti tree segment on the Panorama programme, which showed a Swiss family picking strands of spaghetti from a tree. The broadcaster received hundreds of calls from viewers asking how to grow their own. Google ran elaborate April Fools' jokes in most years from 2000, among them Google Nose in 2013 and a playable Pac-Man inside Google Maps in 2015. Its 2016 Mic Drop feature for Gmail was briefly real and was quickly withdrawn after it caused confusion. In some Latin American countries the equivalent tradition falls on December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents, or Día de los Inocentes, when similar pranks are played. The UK rule that pranks must be played before noon, with a late prankster becoming the fool, is followed loosely and is rare outside England.
Frequently asked questions
What is the origin of April Fools' Day?
The true origin of April Fools' Day is unknown, and no single explanation is proven. One popular theory links it to the change in the new year. When parts of Europe moved the start of the year from late March towards January 1, people who kept to the old date were supposedly mocked as fools. A line from Chaucer in the late 14th century is sometimes read as an early reference. Spring festivals of misrule and trickery may also have fed into the custom.
Why must April Fools' pranks be played before noon?
The before-noon rule is a British custom rather than a universal one. By this tradition, jokes and tricks on April 1 should be played only in the morning, and anyone who tries a prank in the afternoon is themselves called the April Fool. The origin of the rule is not documented, and it is followed loosely even in the UK. It is largely unknown elsewhere, and in most countries pranks happen throughout the whole of April 1.
What are some famous April Fools' hoaxes?
Several April Fools' hoaxes have become well known. In 1957 the BBC's Panorama programme broadcast a report on Swiss farmers harvesting spaghetti from trees, and many viewers believed it. In 1976 an astronomer told BBC radio listeners that a planetary alignment would briefly reduce gravity. The fast-food chain Burger King advertised a "left-handed Whopper" in 1998. Technology companies, especially Google, have run elaborate spoof products for years. Newspapers have also planted fake stories, with varied success.
Is April Fools' Day celebrated around the world?
April Fools' Day on April 1 is observed in many countries, particularly in Europe, North America and places shaped by those cultures. The style varies. In France and parts of the French-speaking world the day is "poisson d'avril", or April fish, and children stick paper fish on people's backs. Some Spanish-speaking countries instead keep their day of pranks on December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents. In other parts of the world the custom is little known or only recently imported.
Is April Fools' Day a public holiday?
April Fools' Day is not a public holiday in any country. April 1 is a normal working day, with schools, offices and shops open as usual. It has no official status and no day off attached to it. It survives purely as a social custom, kept up through personal pranks and through hoax stories in the media. Because it is not a holiday, there is no fixed observance, and how much it is marked depends entirely on individuals and organisations.