April Fish!
One of the silliest holidays on the calendar celebrated by many countries around the world is April Fool’s Day, with the media of many countries often getting in on the act too for grand scale pranks.
Quite a different custom prevails in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy. Children and adults take part in this tradition of attaching paper fish to one another’s backs and shouting, “April fish!” One Swiss work colleague of mine has fond childhood memories of this innocent pastime. The custom possibly harks back to a French poet of the sixteenth century who referred to a poisson d’avril – an April fool, which literally translates as April fish.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries April fish postcards became popular in France, a charming excuse to send quaint greetings to a friend. And it’s a fair excuse to eat fish for dinner tonight too.
Scroll down for more April smiles.
Click on image to see more vintage April fish postcards
Click through to buy a set of 25 antique French postcards, at Etsy store French Country Life