Watch out, Yuma — it’s prank day

April Fools’ Day tradition dates back to at least 1700

If you have any pranksters in your life, then pay attention today, readers. It’s April 1st … which means its April Fools’ Day.

It’s a strange idea to have a day set aside where people deliberately administer pranks to one another.

According to History.com, the tradition dates back to at least 1700, although the exact origins are unknown.

The event could date back to France in 1582, when the country switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. “People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes,” History. com reports, and notes that others would put paper fish on their backs, symbolizing a gullible person who was easily hooked.

Regardless of its origins, however, people tend to feel fairly passionate about April Fools’ Day — they either love it or hate it.

We did some research online and found some light-hearted innocent pranks that might be fun, especially in homes with children. One site suggested putting googly eyes on every item in the refrigerator. Another suggested cutting out the shapes of giant bugs from construction paper, and hiding them in lamp shades — imagine the surprise when they turn on the lights!

It’s inevitable that people are going to run into pranksters out and about today, either in person or on the internet.

But before you share those “whoa … oh my gosh!” stories on social media, take a few moments and do some research. Make sure that your post is truthful — unless it’s blatantly obvious that the post is meant to be a joke, and has some degree of humor contained within.

Otherwise, you too might end up the unwitting victim of an April Fools’ joke!

DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?