Hello there! Welcome back to the world of quizzes. Today I have got a fun one for you. Do you like April? It is a fun month, as it marks the beginning of spring, warmer days, plants budding, and new hopes flourishing. The sun is usually out, we are feeling better and forgetting about the cold, dark days of winter. If you like April as much as we do, you are in luck – today’s quiz is all about it! Let us dive in, shall we?
April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar and the fifth in the early Julian calendar. It is a spring month in the northern half of the world and a fall month in the southern half. It is uncertain where did the name of April come from. Some historians believe it might come from the Latin words aperire, meaning to open, or apricus, meaning sunny. That is because April is seen as the month of Sun and growth in the Northern Hemisphere.
The other theory is that the name April comes from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. She was known as Apru for the Etruscans; since the Romans took over a lot of Etruscan myths, this theory is quite possible. In Greek, April is called ánixi, which roughly translates to spring. The Anglo-Saxons’ name for the April month was ēastre-monaþ, which was supposedly the origin of the word Easter. The English monk Venerable Bede claimed that April was named after the goddess Eostre, who had a festival dedicated to her honor during that month.
In the old Roman calendar, April was called mens aprilis and had 30 days. With the introduction of January into the calendar, the number of days for April was lowered to 29. When Julius Caesar invented the Julian calendar, April got expanded to 30 days again.
According to tradition, April’s birthstone is the diamond, and April’s birth flowers are daisy and sweet pea. The diamond represents innocence, love, and faithfulness. Daisy and sweet pea symbolize purity, virtue, and loyal love. The Zodiac signs in March are Aries and Taurus. Aries season is from March 21 to April 19, and Taurus season lasts from April 20 to May 19. April’s full moon is called the Pink Moon because during that time pink flowers from the Phlox subulata species bloom in North America.
April 1 is celebrated around the world as April Fools’ Day. It is the day when people like to play various pranks on each other. There are many theories about the origin of April Fools’ Day. One explanation regards the introduction of the Julian and the Gregorian calendars. Before that happened, people in many parts of Europe celebrated the New Year in March. The new calendars, however, made January 1 the first day of the year. Those who forgot about the change, or stuck to the old observance for whatever reason, would often fall victims to jokes. One of them would be sticking paper fish to the person’s back. In France, a victim of such a prank was called Poisson d’Avril or April Fish.
There are possible biblical explanations too. One story tells us that Noah sent the dove out by mistake to find dry land before the waters dropped, making Noah the first April’s Fool. Another story is about Jesus being sent from Pontius Pilate to Herod and then back again. Sending a man from Pilate to Herod is an old expression for sending someone on a fool’s errand.
British folklore connects April Fool’s Day to the town of Gotham in Nottinghamshire. The legend says that it was traditional in the 13th century for any road that the king placed his foot upon to become public property. When Gotham’s citizens heard the news that King John planned to travel through their town, they refused to let him in as they did not want to lose their main road. Upon hearing this, the ruler decided to send soldiers to the town to teach the residents a lesson. But when the army did arrive in Gotham, they saw the town full of people occupied with such silly activities as drowning fish. The story ended so that the king declared the town of Gotham simply too foolish to deserve punishment.
Ending on that amusing note, I want to invite you to take the April quiz. It truly is a fun month, and we are sure you know tons of April trivia. Are you feeling up for a challenge? Take a chance and answer some questions about April. Do not forget to share the results with your friends, and maybe send them the link to the quiz. After all, they deserve a shot too. Later you can compare scores and see who is the real April expert!