April Fool's history lesson

[Dincrest]

When the principal did the morning announcements today at the school I intern at, she gave the history of April Fool's Day and I was like "whoa, I didn't know that."

Anyway, back in the 16th or 17th century, the coming of the new year was celebrated on March 25th and the ribaldry continued for 8 days until the herald of the new year on April 1st.  Of course, that all changed when the Gregorian (I think) calender was first adopted, but those who still celebrated the new year on April 1st were called the April Fools.

[everluck]

And never has anyone done it so right as youtube this year.

[Blace]

Yeah, they rick rolled EVERYONE. You can't beat that (except maybe IGN's AWESOME fake Zelda trailer that alot of people believed). I showed that trailer to my little brother and he freaked out and got all excited, so I let him go on for about 15 minutes on how awesome it was going to be, then shot him down and told him it was an April Fool's Joke. I thought he was going to strangle me he was so ticked lol. Interesting story by the way Neal. Nice to know.

[ShiningHero]

I am tired of being Rick rolled. ;/ I also updated my sites theme for April fools. Link is below if anybody is interested. :o Guess it isn't an Aprils fools since I told you lulz.

[Dincrest]

All things considered, it is pretty interesting the stories behind holidays.  I mean, I find Valentine's Day as it currently stands an absolutely sickening commercial holiday, but the story behind it about St. Valentine is a tragic one, and IMO good story.  The basic gist of it was that St. Valentine was martyred in Rome for marrying Christians and back then, aiding Christians was a punishable offense.  He was imprisoned and I *think* he was then sentenced to death when he tried to preach Christianity to the emperor.  There are obviously more details, though I'd be interested to know what the dialogues were between St. Valentine and the people whose lives he impacted.

[Lord Scottish]

I find Valentine's Day as it currently stands an absolutely sickening commercial holiday.

That's pretty much how I feel about all holidays.

[Hidoshi]

Then don't celebrate them. Holy cheesus, they're /just/ holidays. :P No one is asking you to buy into them, you do so of your own accord. There's no need to ruin them for people who DO enjoy such things. I'm against commercialism in general, but I do love Valentine's Day as a special day for couples. It's just a nice event.

[Ramza]

Well, of course they probably *don't* celebrate them. But if everyone around them, including close friends/family, DOES celebrate, it can be just as depressing. For example, I hate the commercialism of Valentine's Day. But my wife feels like I'm an ass if I don't do anything for her. So I get her flowers, and she's happy ... but I feel like a chump. I'd much rather give her flowers spontaneously, when I feel like doing something above&beyond for her.

That's just the way it goes.

[Shiguma]

What Ramza said.

[Ashtrot]

Then don't celebrate them. Holy cheesus, they're /just/ holidays. :P No one is asking you to buy into them, you do so of your own accord. There's no need to ruin them for people who DO enjoy such things. I'm against commercialism in general, but I do love Valentine's Day as a special day for couples. It's just a nice event.

It's hard to ignore holidays when stores stuff it in your face. For example, for the two weeks leading up to V-Day, all stores have an in-your-face reminder to single people that they are single and to non-single people that they're counting down the days until they have to plunk down lots of money for stupid bullshit to keep their mate from getting angry.

Fuck holidays. All they do is waste my hard earned cash to appease other people when it could go towards better purposes, like my fund for a down payment on a future house.

[Hathen]

I dunno, most of the smart girls I've met are satisfied with just doing something on Valentine's Day instead of expecting a gift.

How special does something end up being when someone is getting it for you out of obligation?

[sandiny0ursh0es]

Last Valentine's Day we felt pressured to eat at a fancy schmancy restaurant. The food was good, but I kinda felt like a chump for falling for the holiday buzz and putting down so much money for a meal like that. But... our anniversary is a week before V-Day, so I didn't feel like we wasted too much money. It's nice to do some fine dining every now and then, I guess.



And am I the only person on the internet that doesn't know what the fuck Rick Rolled is? Ehhh, I don't think I even want to know.

[Tooker]

Unless I've missed out on a change, it's when you click a link that's supposed to be something (usually a video)... but instead takes you to a video of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."  (aka in my mind the "I'm a skinny white guy, but I sound like a big black guy" song.)

[everluck]

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Rickroll

[Blace]

Are you trying to rick roll people everluck? There is no way I am clicking on that link.