Poissons d'Avril and Fish...Happy Birthday to my Great-Grandfather 2nd April~!

Yesterday, (or if you're reading this from the US, today), it was (is) April Fool's Day! Happy April Fool's Day everyone! Not that this is a standard greeting one uses to acknowledge such a holiday, on the contrary, it's generally acknowledged that April Fool's Day is the day when jokes are played on one another, and if you had forgotten the date, you'll be quickly reminded if you happen to be the target of someone's merry pranking.

Here in France (read upcoming post on that new bit of news if you're not already aware...), as I was dropping my daughter off at school, we crossed the threshold of the classroom and were greeted by much happy noisemaking and found Sasha's teacher across the room covered with little pieces of paper. As she crossed the room to greet us, we could see that the little pieces of paper that covered her sweater had fish drawn on them...they were taped all over her! She was laughing and smiling, and the kids around her were busily laughing at the funny gifts to their teacher. She told us that today was "Poissons d'Avril"...of course that explained everything! In my mind I was quickly putting it together that today was April Fool's Day and this is how they celebrated it in France! Great!...so I communicated this to Sasha and went on my way. Poisson, by the way, is the French word for 'fish'.

Later, after Sasha had returned home, I heard more about the jolly mood of the day, then went to put E down for a nap. When I returned I found her cutting out little fish shaped pieces of paper with which she spent the rest of the afternoon trying to sneak (and tape) onto each of us! The trick, as far as my currently limited understanding has come to realize is to tape a fish to someone without them knowing it.

It was still later in the afternoon today that a series of emails between my mother, aunt and husband floated around regarding 'Poissons d'Avril' during which my husband pulled the following from Wikipedia:

"Poissons d'Avril is first mentioned in a 1508 poem written by Eloy d’Amerval, a French choirmaster and composer. The poem is titled Le livre de la deablerie. According to Wikipedia, it consists of “a dialogue between Satan and Lucifer, in which their nefarious plotting of future evil deeds is interrupted periodically by the author, who among other accounts of earthly and divine virtue, records useful information on contemporary musical practice.” (It seems that in 1508, Satan and Lucifer were two not one individual...)

The poem would only be of interest to historians of music, except that it includes the line, “maquereau infâme de maint homme et de mainte femme, poisson d’avril.”

The phrase “poisson d’avril” (April Fish) is the French term for an April Fool, but it is unclear whether d’Amerval’s use of the term referred to April 1st specifically. He might have intended the phrase simply to mean a foolish person.

In 1564 France reformed its calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. Those who failed to keep up with the change, who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools—and so the tradition was born."

Paul then included this from the Irish press (on 1st April):

"The origin of April Fools' Day is obscure. One likely theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar; the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar, which it replaced. In many pre-Christian cultures May Day (May 1) was celebrated as the first day of summer, and signalled the start of the spring planting season. An April Fool was someone who did this prematurely. Another origin is that April 1 was counted the first day of the year in France. When King Charles IX changed that to January 1, some people stayed with April 1. Those who did were called "April Fools" and were taunted by their neighbors. In the eighteenth century the festival was often posited as going back to the times of Noah. An English newspaper article published on April 13th, 1789 said that the day had its origins when he sent the raven off too early, before the waters had receded. He did this on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April." (reference to come shortly)

...and so progressed this email exchange today, and now ends our broadened understanding of the varying traditions of an annual holiday the origins of which hardly anyone remembers. It was a fun day!

So here, at the end of the evening, by now the 2nd of April, as I closed my email to my mother, who reminded me it was way too late to be writing (yes, still up and will be heading to bed shortly...), she reminded me, that it's my maternal great-grandfather's birthday today!...born 128 years ago today!


Alfred Ernest Hefford...while I have never met him, my memory of him exists in the form of stories of told to me by my mother: How he was a marine biologist, how he loved to garden in his home in Wellington, New Zealand, how he spent 2 years in the 20's (?) in Bombay, India away from his family, doing marine research for the government of India, how he spent his career studying fish and how to manage fishing practices (and exports) in such a way so as to not deplete New Zealand's rich fish supply, how he became the Director of the Department of Fisheries in New Zealand and spent 20 years advocating for such practices. No fool by any stretch, I'm sure it's a fact that my great-grandfather loved fish and spent his career trying to ensure their longevity. Happy Birthday Great-Granddad!