The funniest April Fool’s joke I’ve ever witnessed is when late night radio’s George Noory, interviewed three people who shared the same body. I think he said they were Siamese triplets. I’m so gullible, I believed it. My husband said, “It’s April Fools.” Once I knew it was a joke, it was hilarious to listen to well-meaning folks call in and tell the three characters how they admired them. I will say though, on my behalf, when George said that one of them was black, my mind was searching for a reason for that. The only thing I could think of was the story of the woman who gave birth to twins, one black and one white, so… could happen? A friend who is a psychiatrist, told me lovingly that I was not gullible but “trusting.”
The French think that an April fool is like a young, spring fish, easy to fool, easy to catch… poisson d’avril… April fish. The Scots call an April fool a gowk. A gowk is the same as a cuckoo bird, a bird the Scots believe is foolish. April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day didn’t arrive in Britain until the 1700s and traditionally it lasted only until noon. So who started it? It’s possible that April Fools’ day has its origins in spring equinox merriments and might be traced back to India and the spring feast of Huli, their fooling being the equivalent to the Europeans’. There is also a hint that All Fools’ day has a sinister origin and dates back to ancient Italy when women from the mountains were fooled into thinking that they were going to Rome to see the games, in honor of Neptune, the God of the sea. When they arrived, their virtue was robbed.
Today, millions of people enjoy an excuse to trick one another. I look forward to turning on the radio and seeing what George Noory has in store for his April Fool’s joke. Perhaps he’ll have the Siamese triplets hosting for him. Hope they don’t all talk at once.
Suellen Ocean is the author of many books on diverse topics. Her books are available here: http://www.amazon.com/Suellen-Ocean/e/B001KC7Z78
I just heard a caller to a San Francisco radio station (KGO) say that Donald Trump was a member of the Knights of Malta. Sounds like Freemasonry or an ancient fraternity left over from the Christian Crusades. Time to find out…
I turned to my beloved encyclopedia that is almost as old, (I love the old reference books, they were written before political correctness and they say things authors would not say today,) and no Knights of Malta is listed under the various fraternities. Here though is some interesting history about Malta and its knights, taken (and reworded) from the Grolier Encyclopedia volumes 13 & 14, pg. 176, Doubleday, Doran and Co., New York, 1956:
I wrote a blog about the Maltese cross about four years ago. Here it is: What is The House of Windsor? Is That a Maltese Cross On the Queen’s Crown? The House of Windsor is the title used by the Royal Family of Great Britain since 1917. The name derives from Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. Before 1917, the title of the British Royal Family was the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. To my way of thinking, I see Saxe as Saxones as in Anglo-Saxon, which we know many of the English claim to be, and Gotha as from Gothic which refers to the Teutonic tribes who encompass a broad range of people, especially Germanic. The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha title sounded too Germanic, so King George V changed it to the Royal House of Windsor during World War I. On the cover of Newsweek, Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee is featured and visible is what looks like a Maltese cross in her crown, bringing images of Hitler’s Third Reich. But this cross was used long before Hitler used it. Besides representing Christianity, it may also symbolize heroism and impeccable leadership. It does remind one though that even though England has become extremely multi-cultural, tribes of “Northmen” played a pivotal role in its culture.
Ancestry&History 