French legendary 法国传说
April 1 In sixteenth-century France, the start of the new year was observed on April first. It was celebrated in much the same way as it is today with parties and dancing into the late hours of the night. Then in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, and the new year fell on January first. There were some people, however, who hadn't heard or didn't believe the change in the date, so they continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April first. Others played tricks on them and called them April fools. In France today, April first is called Poisson d'Avril. French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' backs. When the young fool discovers this trick, the prankster yells Poisson d'Avril!
愚人节16 世纪的时候，法国人是在4月1号庆祝新年的。他们那时候过新年的方法和我们现在几乎一样，人们设宴、跳舞直到深夜。到了1562年，教皇格里高利颁布了基督教新历，按照新历，新年这一天改到了1月1号。但是，有些人没能听说或者听说了但不相信新年改天了。他们还是按照老习惯在4月1号这天过年。其他人就拿他们开玩笑，把他们叫做“愚人”。如今，法国人把愚人节叫做“上钩的鱼”。法国孩子会在朋友的背上贴一条鱼，以此来戏弄别人。当那个受骗上当的小朋友发现以后，开玩笑的人就大叫“上钩的鱼儿”！
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Mythological roots 神话传说
There have been quite a few attempts to provide mythological explanations for the rise of April Fool's Day.
愚人节的起源也有许多神话故事。
One story dates back to Roman mythology, particularly the myth of Ceres (the Goddess of grain and the harvest) and Proserpina. In Roman mythology Pluto, the God of the Dead, abducted Proserpina and brought her to live with him in the underworld. Proserpina called out to her mother Ceres for help, but Ceres, who could only hear the echo of her daughter's voice, searched in vain for Proserpina. The fruitless search of Ceres for her daughter was commemmorated during the Roman festival of Cerealia and believed by some to have been the mythological antecedent of the fool's errands popular on April 1st.
其中之一可以追溯到罗马神话，特别是罗马神话中丰饶女神及其女普罗塞耳皮娜的故事。传说，冥神普罗托诱拐普罗塞耳皮娜并将其带至地狱一同生活。普罗塞耳皮娜向母亲求助，但是丰饶女神却只能听见其女的回声，苦寻无果。丰饶女神寻女的故事在农神节上被人记录流传下来，并被一些人看作是4月1日愚人常做傻事的神话起源。
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British legendary 英国传说
An English story about the day,however,holds that it began sometime during the 1200s.At the time,King John of England was in the habit of making a road out of nearly every path he walked regularly.The citizens of one particular farm village were aware of this.To avoid having their green meadows and pastures disturbed with one of the king' s roads,they built a fence that prevented the king from walking through their countryside.The king sent a group of messengers4) to inform the villagers that they must remove the barrier.Upon hearing that the king was planning to do this,however,the villagers developed a plan of their own.When the messengers arrived,they found what app eared to be a community of lunatics5),with people behaving in a bizarre6) manner,throwing things and running around wildly.The messengers,alarmed at what they had found,reported to King John that these people were so mad as to be beyond punishment.So,the villagers saved their farmland by tricking the King.In Great Britain,tradition only allow s April Fool's tricks from midnight to noon on April 1.Those who try to play tricks in the afternoon become the fools themselves.
关于这一天，英国的一个故事则说它是始于13世纪的某一天。那时，英格兰的约翰国王习惯于将他经常走的几乎每一条小道都修成一条路。有一个乡村的居民知道了这个情况。为了保护他们绿色的草地和牧场免受国王修路所将造成的破坏，他们修了一道篱笆来阻挡国王在他们的乡间穿行。国王派了一队使者去通报村民们必须拆除障碍。在听到国王打算这么做时，村民们也想出了自己的办法。当使者到达时，他们看到这儿的人像一群疯子似的，样子怪诞，乱扔东西，四下疯跑。使者们惊讶于他们所看到的情景，向约翰国王报告说，这些人疯得厉害根本没法处罚。村民们就这样骗过了国王，保护了自己的农田。在英国，按习俗在4月1日只允许从半夜到中午的这段时间可以搞愚人的恶作剧，到下午还这么做的人自己就成了愚人了。
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Anthropological explanations人类学家的解释
Anthropologists and cultural historians provide their own explanations for the rise of April Fool's Day. According to them, the celebration traces its roots back to festivals marking the Springtime.
Spring is the time of year when the weather becomes fickle, as if Nature is playing tricks on man, and festivals occurring during the Spring traditionally mirrored this sense of whimsy and surprise. They often involved temporary inversions of the social order. Normal behavior no longer governed during the brief moment of transition as the old world died and the new cycle of seasons was born. Practical jokes,trickery, and the turning upside down of status expectations were all allowed.
人类学家及文化历史学家们对愚人节的起源有自己的解释。他们认为，愚人节可以追溯到纪念春天的节日。每到春天，天气就开始变得变化无常，就好像大自然在对人类搞恶作剧，按照传统，春天的一些节日都反映了人们的某种奇想和惊奇之感。同时也涉及到一些社会秩序的暂时颠倒。在废旧迎新的短暂转折之计正常的行为不再受到支配，一些玩笑，诡计，以及预期身份的倒置都会得到允许。
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法国“四月鱼”
In addition,the linkage between April Foolery and the Springtime is seen in another story that traces the origin of the custom back to the abundance of fish to be found in French streams during early April when the young fish had just hatched. These young fish were easy to fool with a hook and lure. Therefore, the French called them 'Poisson d'Avril' or 'April Fish.' Soon it became customary to fool people on April 1, as a way of celebrating the abundance of foolish fish.
此外，四月愚行同春天的关系还可见另一个故事，那个故事提到4月初小鱼刚孵出，法国溪流里满是鱼，这些小鱼下个钩放点饵就很容易上当。因此，法国人就把这些小鱼称为四月鱼。很快，在4月1日愚弄别人就成了庆祝轻松大量捕获容易上钩的傻鱼的一个习俗。