Dose o’ Tozer: April Fools
Your brow just lifted. Tozer wrote about April Fools? No, he didn’t but what I just happened to read yesterday in Tozer (yeah, coincidence) fits perfectly with what I wanted to say about April Fools today. God does that to me a lot.
We should all be aware by this time that one way the devil has of getting rid of something is to make jokes about it. Every one of us needs to be warned often about the corruption of our minds by the papers and magazines and entertainment. There is a legitimate humor, and we all admit that. I think a sense of humor is in us by the gift of God. But whenever that humor takes a holy thing as its object, that humor is devilish at once… There is plenty to laugh at in the world, including politics – which is usually funny, anyway. But be sure that you do not laugh at something that God has taken very seriously. A.W. Tozer, Echoes from Eden, pp. 61-62
The history of April Fool’s Day, is not totally clear. The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582. Prior to that year, the new year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25. The celebration culminated on April 1. But in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar). The new calendar called for New Year’s Day to be celebrated Jan. 1.
However, communications being what they were in the days when news traveled by foot, many people did not receive the news for several years. Others, the more ‘obstinate’ crowd, refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1. These backward folk were labeled as “fools” by the general populace. They were subject to some ridicule, and were often sent on “fools errands” or were made the butt of other practical jokes.
This harassment evolved, over time, into a tradition of prank-playing on the first day of April. April Fool’s Day thus developed into an international fun fest, so to speak, with different nationalities specializing in their own brand of humor at the expense of their friends and families. Source Source
So here’s the story – The Catholics threw out God’s seven commanded feasts for Easter and Christmas – both a hybrid mix taken from Babylonian paganism. They threw out God’s timetable (revolving around the feasts and beginning in the spring, at Passover time) for their own messed up calendar. And when people refused and tried to keep to what was originally ordained, they were labeled ‘obstinate fools’, subjected to ridicule and were made into jokes. Nice.
Suddenly, it’s not as funny.
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