We all love April fool’s day with the pranks and hoaxes played on friends and family. Of course, it was fun as long as you weren’t a victim but this April fool’s day the 1st of April 2018, not only can you prank someone, you get your Easter eggs too because April fool’s day, Easter and even daylight saving time has just fallen on the same day. How is this possible?
Well, everyone knows that Easter and April fools day this year are on the same day but what about daylight saving time? Not everyone knows that the 1st of April is the day you are going to have to set your clock back by one hour.
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In what has been termed an uncanny coincidence, Easter, April fool’s day and daylight saving time are all falling on the same day? Weird isn’t it? According to Dr. Stephen Woodcock, a mathematician at Sydney University of technology, this has not occurred before but it is going to happen again.
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Daylight saving time, Easter Sunday and April fool’s day is again going to fall on the same day in 2029 after 11 years. Again after 11 years in 2040, the same phenomenon will be repeated and after that, it will not happen again for 70 years in 2108.
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The reason why this is special is that it is the first time it is happening and has never happened before. Although they may have been earlier ones, daylight savings was only introduced around 50 years ago.
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Daylight savings time is practiced by parts of Australia, North America and Europe. Not everyone does it though, for example, Iceland chooses not to and neither does Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Countries in Asia do not practice daylight savings time.
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In daylight savings time, clocks will be advanced one hour when DST begins at 2am on the first Sunday of October. DST ends on the first Sunday in April when the clocks are then set back by 1 hour so that 3am DST becomes 2 am. In the case of this year, the first Sunday happens to be on the 1st which is also Easter Sunday.
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The practice of daylight savings time is done by countries so that evening daylight lasts longer than summer months while sacrificing the timings of sunrise. DST began in the US in 1986 on the first Sunday in April.
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April fool’s day as you know is celebrated is on the 1st of April. The origin of April fool’s day is attributed to the English poet Chaucer who wrote the Canterbury Tales in the 14th century. It was in this piece of work that he linked April the 1st with foolishness. However, not everyone believes this.
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A Flemish poet Eduard de Dene described in one of his works a nobleman who would send his servants on foolish errands on the 1st of April while John Aubrey remarked that the day was Fool's holy day in 1686 and which is also the first English reference to April fool’s day. Various countries all have their own anecdotes and origins regarding the 1st of April and the collective stories in Europe linked to acts of foolishness and April the 1st is what perhaps led to the day being called April fool’s day.
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Easter Sunday usually falls between 22nd March and 25th April and is counted as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the March or vernal equinox when night and day are equal lengths. The equinox in 2018, this year was on March 21st. The full moon will arrive before midnight on Saturday, March 31st and hence Easter Sunday falls on April 1st.
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While the biggest reason for Easter Sunday is the Christian spiritual celebration to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ as per the teachings of Christianity. The other factors of the day such as Easter eggs can be linked to pagan festivals around the world celebrating fertility.
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Spring itself as a season is linked to fertility in some parts of the world to celebrate the harvest. The celebration of the equinoxes also dates back to prehistoric times and one theory has it that Easter started out as a pagan festival in the Northern hemisphere before Christianity. It celebrated returning from darkness into light.
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According to University of Sydney professor Carole Cusack, In Europe, Easter takes its name from a pagan goddess worshipped in Anglo Saxon England called Eaostre who was the goddess of spring and renewal and whose feast coincided with the vernal equinox. In Germany, the goddess was called Ostar which means “Dawn”. Rabbits and hares were also linked to Eoaster as symbols of fertility which is why the reason for the Easter bunny.
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In the Middle Ages people usually fasted before Easter and began eating eggs as a treat after the Easter mass. Soon the eggs were linked to celebration and joy and to make them more significant, they used hardboiled eggs and started coloring them. The evolution of this concept filtered down to various flavors such as the chocolate and marzipan Easter eggs we have today. In Poland, people still celebrate Easter with hardboiled eggs.
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Be it in Europe or Asia, many cultures link the spring equinox as a time for celebration to mark the symbol of new life and fertility. In India, Holi in India, the festival of colors is celebrated to mark the harvest. Christianity celebrates the risen Christ as a symbol of renewal of faith. Pagans and Wiccans in Europe celebrate the Ostara holiday where Stonehenge in England is a hub of activity during the spring equinox.
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