A´pril

(Lat. Aprīlis , from aperire , to open, because the buds open at this time), the fourth month of the year. The strange custom of making fools on 1st April by sending people upon errands which end in disappointment, and raise a laugh at the expense of the person sent, prevails throughout Europe. It has been connected with the miracle plays of the Middle Ages, in which the Saviour was represented as having been sent, at this period of the year, from Annas to Caiaphas and from Pilate to Herod. This explanation, however, is perhaps itself a piece of April fooling. In France the party fooled is called un poi on d'avril , 'an April fish'; in Scotland, a 'gowk', or cuckoo.