Although the first of April is not a holiday, many countries celebrate it because it gives us the opportunity to entertain our friends, family, colleagues, everyone around us
“April Fool”
Making an April Fool’s Day joke means making an April Fool’s joke.
The origin of this tradition is full of versions. But according to what the teacher and anthropologist Emmanuel Stéphane Laurent explained to AyiboPost, one of the origins of the davril fish we can trust exists since the middle of the 11th century, and he thinks it would be a tradition in France.
Teacher Laurent recalls, at that time, the years did not start on January 1, but rather in the interval from March 25 to April 1.
Indeed, there are pages of history that recount the years that did not begin on the same day for all regions of France. For some of them it is in the spring, for others it is during the Easter period, and especially on April 1 they used to give zetern to celebrate the new year.
In 1564, King Charles IX decided to put an end to the confusing calendar that was being created in France. So he decreed the so-called “Édit de Roussillon”, where he imposed January 1 as the only date for the year to start in all regions of France.
Edict of Roussillon
A few years later, especially in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII himself imposed this decision on all Christians before they adopted the Gregorian calendar.
But it was not a decision that pleased everyone. There is a part of the people of Europe that was uncomfortable with this decision because it was too fast. They continued to keep the beginning of the year from March 25 to April 1 to offer each other fish.
Now, to trip over these categories of people, who do not update quickly, the people around them start offering them fake gifts, give them fake fish, make fun of them to gnash their teeth on them. (For a long time there have been wild boars.) Well, it is in this context that the tradition of the 1st fish davril comes from.
Pope Gregory XIII France
Good! Now, there is an important question to ask: why is the “fish” chosen?
Just like when we were at school we used to play the game “little donkey carries a load without knowing it”, so since the “Middle Ages” in the history of France, there was a practice where people used to stick fish on the back of another people without knowing it. (We’re talking about real fish here, huh. They used to do this mainly with “herring”.)
However, it wasn’t for the games that really did it. This practice had 2 meanings for the people: they do it to mark the fishing season and they believed that it could bring the chance that the fishermen could get more fish.
You can also discover: Video | February 29: everything you need to know about “leap years”.
But the practice quickly transformed with fake fish being made from different materials for pranks. Many people propose the same fish because according to them it is an animal that you catch easily. The thing is starting to look like a fun thing people do with their loved ones to make them feel good. And little by little it becomes a tradition.
That’s how it is in the 20th century, the custom is evolving, until even the media and other companies indulge in inventing fake news, I mean: fake news.
One of the media that has made its name in this regard is the BBC. On April 1, 1957, this media published a vigorous report in which it stalked the viewers. In the video, the BBC makes believe that in Switzerland, there are trees that produce spaghetti. A few years later, CNN qualified this show as the biggest prank ever given by a media outlet in this regard.
Another explanation for the choice of fish is because the first of April corresponds to the period of Lent where Christians fast for 40 days before Easter and when they ban the consumption of meat. Which is the fish that comes to lead.
You can take advantage of it: Kites and coarse salt fish: last traditions victims of inflation
As for the hypothesis to explain the tradition of the devil fish, that is what is missing.
Now, what interests us is how this practice has entered our tradition in Haiti.
According to anthropologist Laurent, this would have to do with our past as a people who were victims of French colonization, from the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 to the end of the Haitian Revolution in 1804. As it would seem, April Fool’s Day is a French tradition and we continue to maintain their heritage and traditions. in our customs, and since their colonization was the longest, it is supposed to be a legacy left to us by France. On the other hand, he thinks, as we are still in contact with France and it is a tradition that has developed at home thanks to the media in the XXI century, it is in this sense that the tradition continues to manifest in our home in Haiti.
Do this now and take the world for him. Even if the first of April is not a holiday, many countries celebrate it because it gives us the opportunity to entertain our friends, family, colleagues, everyone around us. This day gives us the opportunity to deceive the distracted and the very believers to make them act in a different way. These days, people who like to joke around, and those who don’t like it, have to sit down.
In the context of the country of Haiti today, where there are many upheavals, where people complain (the PM is worried) that he cannot enter the country, where stress and complaints invade people everywhere, do you think the devil fish has its place ?
► Research, Interviews and Writing : Fabiola Laurent & Cherub Jerome
► Assembly: Makenson Pinquière and Peterson Patrison Roger
► Illustration: Peterson Patrison Roger
► Supervision: Casimir Philicien
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