The A-Z challenge has begun.
Duh duh duuuhhh.
I haven’t written out any posts in advance -so I guess we’ll just see where alphabetic inspiration takes us, shall we?
Today I think we all are collectively wiping our brows in relief. It’s April Fools Day. An easy ‘A’ if ever there was one.
But in the spirit of Friday’s ‘living in France’-I hereby present:
April Fish Day
In France, people celebrate April Fools just like in most other countries.
With one small difference.
They stick each other with fish.
Usually paper fish. Sometimes cardboard cut outs or printed out stickers. They don’t use real fish (to the best of my knowledge but I assume there are those who have gone the distance and smacked someone will a real flapping fish for the occasion)
My first year teaching primary school here I remember feeling light little taps on my back as I made my way into the classroom. The kids kept shouting ‘Poisson d’Avril!! Poisson d’Avril!!!’
I was like- ‘Chill out French children! OH-and what the hell’s an April Fish?’ (ok, maybe not those exact words)
I felt my hair being lightly pulled as I turned. Attached to the end was a piece of tape and a paper gold fish. The kids went flippin’ nuts. I took off my coat and -low and behold, I had about ten cut out fish duct taped to the back.
“Oh that’s a good one!” I laughed. “You guys got me! We have April Fools day too you know!”
*kids still giggling*
I took another look at my hairy coat back aquarium. “So, what’s with the fish? Why do you tape fish onto people’s backs on April 1st?”
*giggling stops and gives way to radio silence*
The kids look from one to the other, smiles gone, brows furrowed. We all finally turn in unison towards the teacher in the back of the room.
She just shrugs. “Nobody really knows.”
I clear my throat and decide to change the subject. “Ooookay ya bunch of weirdo’s , moving right along then…” (or something to that affect)
Today the principle was the one who stuck me with a fish. It is tradition after all.
Ofcourse I had to God-or-Google why the French associate fish with April fool’s day. My first thought was that perhaps back in the day, ‘fish’ was also the word for ‘fool’ and that maybe the French just got a little carried away or confused on the subject?
Though there was mention of April 1st being the old new year, fish given during lent, or offering fake fish because fishing season was actually closed at this time of year—In the end, that teacher’s assessment turned out to be true. --Nobody frickin’ knows.
Welcome to the A-Z people! It's gonna be a looong month!;)
*CQG*
