Why is the 1st of April "Fools Day"?

Flynn_17

When the Christians first encountered Pagans, the Pagans celebrated a festival on the first of April that was very similar to Christmas. The Christians would give them mocking gifts, calling the Pagans "April Fools" - until the Pagans slaughtered them and ate their brains. Apr 01 06, 2:06 PM

Arpeggionist

Many a civilization in Europe celebrated the beginning of the new year on the first day of the first month of spring - that's April in the Gregorian calendar (Nissan in the Jewish calendar). When Christians decided to celebrate the beginning of their year in January this set them apart from their pagan neighbors, friends and relatives. The Christians considered this an advancement in civilization, and thus referred to people who didn't take up the practice as "April fools", until the pagans killed the Christians and ate their brains. Apr 01 06, 2:33 PM

Baloo55th

Can you give a reference for the pagans eating Christian brains, or is that an April 1st posting? I thought it was usually the Christians that were accused of ritual cannibalism - probably without justification. Apr 01 06, 3:19 PM

xfacilitatorx

Pagan is not a correct term. There was no "pagan" religion. It is a term that means "country dweller" or someone who is not citified and has no real sense of spiritual organization. Persons refered to as pagan had very diverse and unorganized forms of worship as well as diverse beliefs. Some practiced sacrifice and some worshipped life itself. "Paganism" is anything pre-Christian that was not of the organized faiths. (Muslim, Jew, Etc.) pa·gan 1. One who is not a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, especially a worshiper of a polytheistic religion. 2. One who has NO religion. 3. A non-Christian. 4. A hedonist. 5. A Neo-pagan dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pagan The term pagan is a Christianized generic term that is widely misused Paganism: Within a European Christian context, paganism is a catch-all term which has come to connote a broad set of not necessarily compatible religious beliefs and practices (see Cult (religion)) of a natural religion (as opposed to a revealed religion of a text), which are usually, but not necessarily, characterized by polytheism and, less commonly, animism. There is little organized "-ism" in paganism. http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Paganism http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Paganism Apr 01 06, 3:50 PM

McGruff

Brewer's Phrase and Fable agrees and offers another account which refers to the Roman Cerealia, held at the beginning of April. The story is that Proserpina was sporting in the Elysian meadows, and had just filled her lap with daffodils, when Pluto carried her off to the lower world. Her mother, Ceres, heard the echo of her screams, and went in search of the voice. Her search, however, was a fool's errand; it was 'hunting the gowk' (Scottish for cuckoo) or looking for an echo of a scream. In any event, it was actually the screams of the Christians as the Pagans slaughtered them and ate their brains. See Q#30981 and #45923 Apr 01 06, 4:03 PM

Baloo55th

Pagan is a correct term. It is used of those who do not follow the mainstream faiths - by themselves. It is right that there is little -ism with them. And little agreement too. A local minister (URC) was telling me he is having difficulty in getting pagans represented on the local - can't remember what it's called, not Council of Churches which is Christians, while this is all faiths - religious body. He's found two groups, and neither will agree to being involved if the other is there. He's quite upset about this, really. Almost everyone else locally is represented and they actually talk to each other. And in the mean time, here's two sets of varied origins: http://www.southcom.com.au/~seymour/aprilfool/april.htm http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aprilfools1.html Apr 01 06, 4:18 PM

xfacilitatorx

The proper word I should have used is misused. And actually there was never a "Pagan" group of persons (like Christians, Muslims, Jews, Daoists, etc,) anywhere. It is a generic term that was created by The Church who adopted various aspects of this unorganized belief system to attract such persons into the fold. Alot of these adaptations are the backbone of todays R.C. Church. Apr 01 06, 4:55 PM

lanfranco

Well, being a born-again pagan, I have to point out that according to the online OED's etymology discussion, the word "pagan" comes from the perfectly good Latin "paganus," meaning "outsider," "villager," or "civilian." By the time of Tertullian's and Augistine's writings, it was being used to mean "heathen" -- that is, not Christian or Jewish. It is unfortunate, but it's terribly hard to find Christian brains to eat these days. Apr 01 06, 8:42 PM

xfacilitatorx

Franco: Show us where the usage was existant prior to Christianity. Not the meaning of 'Pagan' but the applied usage. Apr 01 06, 9:18 PM

lanfranco

If you insist -- from the OED's etymology section on "pagan": "Ad L. pagan-us, orig. 'villager, rustic; civilian, non-militant; opposed to 'miles,' soldier, one of the army; in Christian L. (Tertullian, Augustine) 'heathen' as opposed to Christian or Jewish. 'The Christians called themselves 'milites,' 'enrolled soldiers of Christ, members of his militant church, and applied to non-Christians the term applied by soldiers to all who were not enrolled in the army.' cf. Tertullian 'De Corona Milites xi, 'Apud hunc [Christam] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles infidelis.' Apr 01 06, 9:46 PM

Arpeggionist

Whatever the case, I guess there really isn't much documentation of any cannibalism actually happening in those days in southern Europe or the Mid East. (Jews were often accused, always wrongfully, of preparing their meals for Passover with the blood of Christian children.) Apr 02 06, 3:59 AM

Baloo55th

Modern day Pagans use the term for themselves as a turn around of a Christian insult - just like some blacks call themselves 'niggas' (as in Niggas with Attitude). Pagans share one thing at least with Jews, Hindus and Buddhists - they don't really care what religion other people follow so long as they are left alone. It's mostly Christians and Moslems (not all of them - just the noisiest ones) that seem to have a problem with other people's religions. Frankie, if you do find any, don't eat them. Could lead to CJD. Apr 02 06, 7:27 AM

xfacilitatorx

Franco.....I will consent to your point. Apr 02 06, 9:29 AM

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