ALL FOOLS’ DAY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 255, 24 July 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

ALL FOOLS’ DAY

Observance of Ancient Origin The traditional way to make an April Fool was to send someone on a “sleevelesse errand.” The phrase is used by Chaucer, and in “John Heywood’s Workes” (1506) we find the following couplet:— And one morning timely he took in han de To make to my house a sleevelesse errande.

The meaning of the expression, as gathered from other use, is that of something not to be unfolded or expressed. To “sleave” was to untwist. In “Whimsies: or a New Cast of Characters,” London, 1631, the author, speaking of a “tattling titmouse,” says: “She can make twentie sleevelesse errands in hope of a good turn.” Bishop Hall, in his Satires, talks of “sleevelesse rhymes.” Brand, in his “History of Antiquities,” says that simple persons were sent to purchase a “History of Eve’s Mother,” or to fetch a pint of pigeon’s milk; etc. And in “Poor Robin’s Almanack,” 1760, we find: — But on this day are people sent On purpose for pure merriment; And though the day is known before Yet frequently there is great store Of these Forgetfuls to be found Who’re sent to dance Moll Dixon’s Round, And, having tried each shop and stall, And disappointed at them all, At last some tells them of the cheat When they return from their pursuit. Reference to this prank is made in “The First of April, or Triumphs of Folly,” London, 1777: — ’Twas on the morn when laughing Folly rules, And calls her sons around and dubs them Fools. Bids them be bold, some untry’d path explore, And do such deeds as Fools ne’er did before. In Scotland the victim 1 used to be called an “April Gowk,” and they had the custom of “Hunting the Gowk” by sending with a letter to some distant person who, on opening it, would find a note saying:— On the First of April Hunt the Gowk anither mile. It is remarkable that in India at a festival held about this time, called the Huli Festival, the same trick is played. _____________