Will you be the fool or the prankster?

Mar 31, 2008

April Fools’ Day, though not a holiday, is celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, enemies and neighbours, or sending them on fools’ errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullib

By Jacobs Odongo

April Fools’ Day, though not a holiday, is celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, enemies and neighbours, or sending them on fools’ errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. In some countries, April Fools’ jokes are only done before noon on April 1.

The origin of this day is uncertain. However, the common belief is that during the reformation of the calendar, the date for New Year was moved from April 1, to January 1 during that time, there was no television and no radio, so word spread slowly. There were also those who chose to ignore the changes and those who simply forgot.

These people were considered fools and invitation to non-existent parties and other practical jokes were played on them. The day is celebrated in many parts of the world with practical jokes and sending people on a fool’s errand.

Sam, now a media employee, did not know how much he loved his drunken father until Thursday, April 1, 1993.

“Jackson, our neighbour, had been sent by Dad to bring us food for lunch. He did that, but he also decided to use the opportunity to pull a prank on me,” he reminisces. Jackson acted as if he was n a panic and told the young Sam that he had found mzee very drunk and lying by the roadside.

However, because he was alone, he could not help mzee and at the same time carry the bicycle. So he had chosen to bring the bicycle with hope of informing the family to go to mzee’s rescue. Full of innocence, poor Sam set off without even informing other family members. He reached the scene Jackson had mentioned, but there was no sign that someone had been lying there.

“I ran back crying and I was drenched in the drizzle, only to find a sober Dad at home,” he says. Asked why he was crying, he just narrated Jackson’s antics. Jackson was summoned.

“He came in laughing like he was mental case. Asked how he came up with such bad manners, he simply said it is April 1, Fool’s Day,” says Sam, who then had to endure mirth from all the others, although his father felt Jackson’s prank was insensitive.

Now, are you ready? This day can be exciting, but watch out! Your hoax can be harmful to your victim. I have never been a prankster, only a victim of many of these jokes, including one that made a whole village spend a night outside because some smart fellow had heard announcements on Radio Uganda (now UBC Radio) that musisi ( an earthquake) would strike at night.

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