Fish?

[Olivier]

Hi again!


Kriton:

>>> What actually seemed to happen was that instead of just tricking
>>> one's victim, the point was to stick a plastic fish on his back. Is
>>> this the Italian version of what happens on April Fool's day,
>>> is it some other event, which the Greek translator turned into
>>> the more familiar April Fools' day, or is it a Duckburg custom
>>> (stick-a-fish-on-your-friends'-back-day!) with which the writer of the
>>> story came up?


We have this in France as well, and it is exclusively restricted to April Fool's Day-- it's a
"poisson d'Avril" (April Fish"). Tricks & jokes alos play an important part.
I have surely read or heard about the origin of  the fish thing, but can't remember-- sorry.

A quick search turned out this:
http://www.momes.net/dictionnaire/p/poissondavril.html  (I hope they're not mistaken)
King Charles IX decided in 1564 that, from 1565 on, the new year would start on January 1 instead of
April 1. On April 1, 1565, people offered gifts, as was the custom on the first day on the year;
only, since this was no longer the first day, instead of  true gifts, they played jokes on their
friends.
[This I remembered]
Now, regarding the fish, they say that fishing was forbidden at this time of  the year to let the
fish mate; some jokers played tricks on fishermen by throwing fish in the rivers.
[It doesn't make too much sense to me]

About has something on April Fool's Day in Italy:
http://italian.about.com/library/weekly/aa032801a.htm?iam=savvy&terms=%22Poisson+d%27Avril%22
(I can gues some words, but guess-translating all this would be too long)

Here are links to a couple of  April-themed covers (the first one is the most interesting):
http://revuesdisney.free.fr/PM/PM-htm/PM122.htm
http://revuesdisney.free.fr/PM/PM-htm/PM134.htm
http://revuesdisney.free.fr/PM/PM-htm/PM146.htm



Foolishly yours,

Olivier