So, it’s April Fool’s Day, which, admittedly, has never been a major part of my life. I seem to vaguely recall an April Fool’s hoax in middle school—something about the end of the world. I also remember that, on one April Fool’s, my wife told her parents that we were “expecting” when we weren’t, which was amusing but hardly significant. But otherwise the day has passed with little or no commotion. It’s the kind of thing that, like Administrative Professionals Day or Flag Day, you scroll past on your iCalendar.
Still, it’s a curious thing, isn’t it? What’s the point of designating a particular day for mindless japes and elaborate ruses? Unsurprisingly, a few clicks around the Internet does not answer this question in a straightforward manner. Indeed, it appears that April Fool’s Day emerged out of a variety of events and traditions. One theory is that post-Reformation changes to the secular calendar created a social distinction between those who were aware of the new Gregorian system and the “fools” who weren’t. Another, more intriguing idea is that April Fools’ Day is an offshoot of the so-called “Feast of Fools” (festum fatuorum), an annual feast day on which sham bishops and antipopes would govern the church. As Charles Taylor argues in A Secular Age (2007), the Feast of Fools was one of many such celebrations during the church’s liturgical year, whereby normally rigid social hierarchies were temporarily suspended. During these feasts, of which Carnival remains the most famous, the established order effectively undermined its own authority. Establishmentarian legal codes and moral expectations, while needed to direct society, were exposed as incomplete and mutable verities. This came with an important corollary: there is something higher than the secular, if only we will give it space to manifest.
To be sure, this logic is deeply embedded in Christian thinking. At the heart of the Christian life lies a series of paradoxes—that earthly kings are not finally authoritative, that true power emerges from weakness, that love should encompass even enemies, and that wisdom comes from fools. Famously, St. Paul insists on these points in 1 Corinthians 1:18-29:
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence. (AKJV)
According to Taylor, the mysteries thus invoked by Paul allowed Christianity to break through the ruling assumptions of the ancient world. Power was still power, but it was no longer absolute. And yet, this may be changing. Taylor warns that, as Christianity has receded in Western cultural life, so has secular power looked to reestablish an unconditional stranglehold on our social logic. Instead of celebrating the wisdom of the fool, we are expected to adhere to rigid public orthodoxies and institutional standards.
So, I think I will toast April Fool’s Day after all. I will give thanks that the iCalendar, at least to this point, does not recognize the subversive elements lying within.
Yes! And I'm sure there's "holy fools" like in Dostoevksy - Prince Myshkin, would sort of count asone, right, in THE IDIOT? (I gotta read that one again. To me it was a lot more difficult than Crime and Punishment). And I think the Fool in King Lear comes across to me at least as highly charged with a kind of Christian prophetic resonance. Do you know the Soviet Russian (I know, bad timing) movie of King Lear? It's the best cinematic rendition imo and in spite of being Soviet era is fully affirmative of the play's potential Christian interpretation (rather than bleakly nihilist). It is fully available now to everyone (when I was in undergrad I tried so hard to find it unsuccesfully) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDOm18j4dE0
I love April Fools day. Always have and still do. Watched a video of my 4 year old grandkids (twins) doing one on their father. They had a ball. Thank you for the history and the St. Paul quote. Most cool.