Originally, a new calendar

According to history, this tradition originated in France in 1564. Before this time, the first day of the year fell on April 1^st (according to the Julian calendar, 25^th March corresponded to New Year's Day), in relation to the Annunciation to Mary and the custom of exchanging gifts. This was a regular event until 1564 when King Charles IX of France decreed, by the Edict of Roussillon, that 1st January would mark the lengthening of the days and the first day of the year, replacing the end of March and the arrival of spring.

Resistants to the change

Subsequently, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII extended this measure to include all of Christianity and the use of the Gregorian calendar, which thus began the year on 1^st January, spread around the world. However, it seems that resistants to the change at first stuck to the original tradition and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1^st. To make fun of them, some took advantage of the old tradition to exchange gifts as per usual, but gifts that were meant as jokes: a rope to tie up the wind, a strainer without holes, a key to the fields, a stick with only one end, etc.

The offering of fake fish

With April 1st usually falling at the end of Lent, a period of fasting during which Christians are forbidden from eating meat, fish was the present most often given. Thus the offering of fake fish and the famous "poisson d'avril" was born, the day for those who do not accept reality or see it differently…