Herrings for April fool's day!

April Fools' day is well known throughout the western world. It can mean sending someone on a "fool's errand" to look for things that do not exist; play pranks; and try to make people believe ridiculous things. In many countries the tradition is similar, you come up with something that is not true but then it varies what you say to your "victim":

In Sweden people say: “april, april din dumma sill jag kan lura dig vart jag vill…” "April, April you stupid herring I can fool you to wherever I want…" when you notice that the person fell for your joke.

In France and Italy you say "Poisson d'avril"  or “pesce d'april “ after telling your joke as you stick a paper fish on your victim’s  back without the person knowing it, equally funny every year!

In the Netherlands, however, you are more creative, you say to the person you tricked: “1 april, kikker in je bil, die er nooit meer uit wil,”," that means "April 1st, a frog in your butt that never wants to come out again”, it rhymes nicely of course in Dutch.

In Finland it is said: "Aprillia, syö silliä, juo kuravettä päälle," but not many people really understand why, it means April joke, eat herring and drink clay water afterwards.

In England, you can only tell a joke until 12 o'clock on the 1st of April. If you play a prank after 12 o'clock, you are considered the fool. The one who was successfully deceived before 12 has succeeded and is a "noodle"!

How April fool’s day came about or why herring is part of many countries' April Fool's jokes is unclear, perhaps because it has traditionally been an inexpensive and very popular food fish. Charlotte was inspired by this idea and you can see her herring work in progress above.

Happy Easter from Charlotte and her team!