Celebrations Today – April 1
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which Sizdah Be-dar can fall, while April 2 is the latest; celebrated on the 13th day after vernal equinox. (Iran)
- Iranian Islamic Republic Day (Iran) falls on this day if the Vernal Equinox falls on March 21.
- Veneralia was held on April 1 during Ancient Rome, however this date does not lock into the modern Gregorian calendar.
- April Fools’ Day
- Arbor Day (Tanzania)
- Civil Service Day (Thailand)
- Cyprus National Day (Cyprus)
- Edible Book Day
- Fossil Fools Day
- Kha b-Nisan, the Assyrian New Year (Assyrian people)
- National Civil Service Day (Thailand)
Celebrations Today – USA: April 1
April Fools’ Day
National One Cent Day
National Sourdough Bread Day
National Love Our Children Day – First Saturday in April
National César Chávez Day
National Dance Marathon Day
National Eiffel Tower Day
National “”She’s Funny That Way”” Day
National Crayola Crayon Day
National Farm Workers Day
National Terri’s Day
World Backup Day
Today in US History: April 1
April Fool!
Old Heidelberg, copyright 1905.
Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
April 1 has long been an opportunity for children to tease their teachers. In an interview with a writer employed by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, Mrs. Sally Marlowe of Marion, South Carolina, recalled:
We used to run off in the woods on April Fools’ Day and stay till twelve o’clock noon come — then we would all show up to the schoolhouse. What you reckon they done to us for it? Kept us in school so late every evening that week till the moon would be shining bright enough to show us the road home.“The Skippers,” January 19, 1939.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940
Rural School near Milton, North Dakota, Miss Margaret McKay, teacher, 1913.
The Northern Great Plains, 1880-1920: Photographs from the Fred Hultstrand and F.A. Pazandak Photograph Collections
Dr. Samuel Lathan recollected engaging in similar antics while attending “an old field school” near his childhood home in Fairfield County, South Carolina.
Interior of “Little Red Schoolhouse,” Crossville, Tennessee, 1935.
America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1935-1945
April the 1st was dreaded by most rural school teachers. The pupils would get inside and bar the teacher out. The teacher, who didn’t act on the principle that discretion is the better part of valor, generally got the worst of it. Mr. Douglass soon learned this, and, on April Fool’s Day, he would walk to the school, perceive the situation, laughingly announce there would be no school until the morrow, and leave.Dr. Samuel B. Lathan, circa October 10, 1940.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940
More April tomfoolery abounds in American Memory:
- Search on April Fool in American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940 to find more tales of pranks and shenanigans. If your taste runs to practical jokes, take a look at “How Snipe Hunting Was Invented,” in which pioneer Steve Robertson tells how one Brad Slocum, “one of these tender-actin’ persons that was always wantin’ somebody else to do it,” got his just desserts.
- Search on dog, humorous pictures, or animals in human situations to find more silly pictures in Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920.
- The online collection The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920 contains many examples of comedy routines performed by vaudeville entertainers, including ten audio recordings.
For a good laugh, tune in to “Henry’s Music Lesson.” Or, appreciate a time-tested joke routine to the accompaniment of a fiddler playing “The Arkansas Traveler,” or listen to performers imitate various sounds such as a sawmill and a dog fight in “A Study in Mimicry.”
“Henry’s Music Lesson,”
performed by Miss Sally Stembler & Edward Meeker, Edison 51063-R, recorded 1923.
The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
Listen to this recording (Real Audio format)
Listen to this recording (wav format, 452KB) - Search on joke in the collection of Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1820-1860 & 1870-1885 to find humorous songs such as “Too Thin; or, Darwin’s Little Joke” by O’Rangoutang.
- The American Memory collection Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies includes many films in video format from the Library’s collection of early copyrighted paper print films. Many early films show comic routines. The Unappreciated Joke, filmed by Thomas Edison, Inc. in 1903, shows a man on a subway attempting to entertain a fellow passenger who is not amused.
In another early film, An Animated Luncheon, filmed February 1900, Edison exploits the newly discovered possibilities of film-splicing to create a gag.
Today in History – April 1-External Links
Today’s Weather in History
Today in Earthquake History
This Day in Naval History
Today’s Document from the National Archives
Today’s Events, Births & Deaths –Wikipedia
Today in History by AP
On this Day -1950 to 2005 – Today’s Story–BBC
On This Day: The New York Times
This Day in History –History.com
Today in Canadian History – Canada Channel
History of Britain that took place On This Day
Russia in History –Russiapedia