That's a fascinating question Fred, I'll do some research and see what I find.

-Heather

Well, Fred, you did get me wondering, too. Apparently there is no clear history but many theories. One theory goes back to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in 1392. Another is that when a new calendar was implemented in 1582, New Years Day was changed to January 1 from April 1 where it had been celebrated by many ancient cultures.This change was thought by some to be foolish. So apparently it has been around in some form for quite some time. Here is a link to one brief discussion:

http://time.com/4276140/april-fools-day-history/

My favorite April 1st news story this year was about milking chickens; even the eggs laid every morning contained milk. The rest of the process was not fully explained.  

So thank you for the chuckles, and for the chance to learn something new. 

Carol,

I had read a link too and that's why I asked the question but we all still don't really know for sure since it really started so long ago.... I never heard about the milking chickens....

Heather,

I'll wait and see what you discover after your researching let us know what you find.... It's sort of interesting like ground hog day just not as well known I suppose but probably all point to Spring Time....

Hi Fred:  Here is an article that defines several options regard April 1st. 

http://www.salemnews.com/cnhi_network/a-brief-totally-sincere-history-of-april-fools-day/article_998d0bf8-de32-5b75-8cb7-9a2db0655518.html

In my family we always did the trick...OH My God!  There is a spider...after the person jumped we would say April Fool's