The 1st of April has been on the Kieker for a long time. It is said to be an unlucky day, it has been said for centuries, after all, Judas – the disciple who betrayed Jesus – was born on April 1 and took his own life on April 1. In addition, Lucifer is said to have been thrown from heaven on this day. These are serious, great moments in the Christian narratives, they are certainly not a reason for jokes and pranks.

Fridtjof Küchemann

Editor in the arts section.

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You send someone to April, they say, and in the past this was often meant literally: someone has to deliver a supposedly important message, but only asks its recipient to send the messenger on. There is at least one connection here: The day on which Judas killed himself was also the day on which Jesus was arrested and sent first to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, from him to King Herod and from him back to Pilate. If someone is referred from one to the other in vain, it is still said today in a joking abbreviation that he is sent from Pontius to Pilate.

There are reports of this kind of April Fool's jokes, which are four hundred years old, with Mozart and Goethe allusions to it. And as early as 1774, a first April Fool's joke appeared in a newspaper, which figuratively misled its bona fide readers. At that time, it was simply said that you could dye not only Easter eggs, but also chickens: simply paint the environment of the animals in the desired color, and they would adapt.

For the ancient Romans, April 1 was assigned to the goddess of love Venus. This fits: There are not only many stories in which lovers dress up to deceive others who could stop them, or even the lover or the beloved herself. Those who are in love are often and gladly victims of ridicule and pranks.

Perhaps the most beautiful story about the basics of April Fool's Day is that of the French King Henry IV, who fell for the supposed love letter of a sixteen-year-old in the early 17th century: When he arrived at the pleasure palace that the letter proposed as a secret meeting place for the two, he was expected there not only by his court, but also by his wife. Maria de Medici – who was pleased that her husband had come to the "Fools' Ball".

This also shows that the best April Fools' jokes are not just made up quickly, but require a bit of planning. But luckily we still have a few days until April 1st.