National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: April Fools' Day Facts: Behind the Laughs


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Street kids tie a kite to an elderly man's hair on April Fools' Day in a 1770 painting.

Many historians believe the day of pranks originated in 1500s France, when country dwellers did not realize the start of the New Year had been moved from April to January—making them "April fools."

Illustration courtesy Hulton Archive/Getty Images