Reflections on Life and Faith,
by David Keating

Who Are We Fooling?

April 1, 2007

          April Fool's Day. The day when we pull juvenile pranks on one another that on any other day of the year would get us a slap in the head or worse for our trouble.

     But its spring and we all feel a little giddy by times. After all, we survived the winter. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the ice is melting out of the rivers and lakes. Of course we feel like doing silly things.

     Now, since I do try to make this column at least occasionally educational here is this year's informational tidbit on April Fools traditions. In Scotland (and if you are reading this in Scotland you already know this, so please feel free to skip ahead) April Fools Day pranks focus on the victim's posterior.  Hence, and I know you're waiting for it, the term "butt of the joke." Now don't say you never learned anything today.

     One of the most common histories of the April Fools Day tradition holds that it originated with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in Europe in the late fifteen hundreds. The older Julian calendar placed New Years in April. The theory goes that, because it took years for this type of information to be passed around, the people considered the whole idea a trick of some kind.

     In reality, holidays and festivals like this are as old as humanity. From the Roman Empire to India to the Celtic traditions of Ireland, people have been playing tricks on each other in the springtime as far back as we have records for.

     There was apparently even an attempt to "Christianize" the idea. There's an old saying that goes "sending a man from Herod to Pilate" that's understood as a variation on what we more commonly would call a "fools errand". For reasons that seem obvious to me, this didn't catch on very well.

     I sometimes wonder at the human desire to play tricks on one another. It's the source for more than one reality television show, and some of the pranks can get pretty extreme. The old Candid Camera program was a kinder, gentler version of the idea; and I'll even confess to chuckling at some of those Just for Laughs on the street gag programs. Certainly there are times when pranks can cross into cruelty. But for the most part, we're a good humoured lot.

     Human beings like to laugh. There's nothing more attractive in my mind than a face stretched wide in an ear to ear grin. Nor a more beautiful sound than the sound of laughter.

     My granddaughter has recently discovered the amazing qualities of the rearview mirror in the car. Since her car seat, when we're traveling together in my car, is directly behind me, the mirror is the only way that we can see one another. Endless games of hide and seek have taken place in that mirror, always accompanied by a dimpled smile and a fit of giggles at poor Grandpa who can't find Alissa or her dolly.

     When things didn't go quite right, my father used to smile, shake his head, and remark "Might as well laugh as cry." I've always thought that was pretty good advice.

     There are those who seem to find it difficult to find anything happy or playful in their faith. They're all doom and gloom and seriousness. There are those who struggle with personal challenges, and our challenges as a society and a species sometimes seem overwhelming.

     But Jesus said that we were to be overflowing with his joy, and the original word, chara, meant cheerfulness and delight. I think that's what Dad meant too.

     So this April Fools Day lets let ourselves overflow with joy. After all, its pretty good advice.

David Keating