Caribbean Tom Fools' Day
In the Caribbean, as in many countries and places of British heritage, the first day of April is known as April Fools' Day, a date of pranks and jokes, which in Spanish would be the DÃa de los Inocentes, which many Spanish-speaking countries and people concentrate on December 28.
In the Nicaraguan Caribbean, among the Creole community, this day is known as Tom Fool Day, in Jamaica, for example, people commonly call it All Fools' Day.
What does Tom Fool Day consist of?
It involves playing jokes on other people before noon on April 1. Generally, these jokes are related to fake messages, hoaxes regarding a certain situation (usually serious) or messaging, for example, when X person tells Y person that he/she was called and when Y person arrives at the point or where the person who supposedly called him/her is at, Y person realizes that it is a lie. This is often the most common joke, which generally involves sending the person as far away as possible.
Other pranks that are practiced on this date are making fake phone calls, delivering an empty gift to a person and advancing or turning back a clock in a moment of carelessness of the victim.
According to the Caribbean tradition, the one who continues to play pranks after midday or the one who is still fooled, at the end of the evening he or she will be baptized as "the foolest of them all". Another interesting fact about this day is that, in general, children born on this day are nicknamed Tomy, because they were born on Tom Fools Day.
How did this date come about?
The exact origin of this date is not known, perhaps this is the biggest or longest hoax in history for these reasons. However, some historians believe it originated when Europe switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, where the first day of the year was changed from late March or early April to January 1. Countries that still celebrated the first day of the year on April 1 under the Julian calendar were mocked by those who celebrated it on January 1.
What is sure is that this custom was brought to the Caribbean by the British, who settled in this area of the Americas in the 1600s.
