Poisson d'avril...

Happy April Fool's day! The origins of this day come from the 1500s in France, where even after pope Gregory introduced the new Christian new year as January 1st instead of April 1st, some who had not heard of the change, continued to celebrate the new year on April 1st. Others, who were aware of the change, would invite the "fools" to fictitious parties and non-existent celebrations as a prank.

Today in France, French children fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' backs. When the "young fool" discovers this trick, the prankster yells "Poisson d’Avril!" (April Fish!).

When in college, along with a few of my friends, we once impersonated another friend's ex-girlfriend on the email and professed a rekindled unconditional love toward the fool to be. Needless to say, after much embarrassmentt, to this day he is upset that he fell prey to the biggest April Fool's day prank of all time.

Here are some pictures from my 30th birthday celebration at a restaurant in Charlottesville, along with the Baha'i community: