April fools day is an active day in our world. I gave Hank a ride home from school to get ready for his tennis lesson. He is always observant and saw a bottle of wine on the counter with the pink and purple balloons. The wine is called Clio. It happens to be a very tasty Jumilla Red Wine. Hank asked if his cousin was really named for a bottle of wine? Good question, although I assured him that was not the likely origin. Karen’s departed sister was Clela and it seemed Clio may be a proxy for one of the favorite Aunt’s. I did a bit of research, Clio is first found in Greek mythology, the goddess of history and lyre playing. Clio is the daughter of Zeus and Titaness, who was the goddess of memory. She is also referred to as “the Proclaimer, often pictured with an open parchment scroll, a book, or a set of tablets. Well regardless of the potential etymology of the name, our Clio turned 4 on April 1. We had the all important party with balloons, cake, presents and wine for the adults. Join me in wishing Clio Thomas Haga a happy fourth year on this ever changing planet. Clio is a joy and by any name she would be a treasure.
Historian’s have had some difficulty tracing the origins of the April first tradition. I like the speculation that this all dates back to 1582. It was in that year that France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. People who were uninformed or reticent to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1. Those folks continued to celebrate the new year during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. The pranks of the day included having paper fish placed on their back and being referred to as poison d’avril, (April Fish), said to symbolize a young, “easily hooked” fish and a gullible person.
This week Hank told me confidentially that he had too many activities in his schedule. I was not quick to commiserate and told him he was so lucky that his parents cared enough about him to give him many alternatives. He listed off, school, tennis, chess, baseball, skiing, and piano on his burdensome list of stuff. I knew what he was really saying was he would like more screen time to play Minecraft which virtual school gave him too much time to enjoy. His mom told him on April Fools that she had a big surprise for him. The entire family was going to move into a tent, raise bees, and Hank would have lots of time to enjoy nature. I picked him up to go to school and he told me with very wide eyes that he knew that was not true, how could anyone live without the internet!! Really, what a lame April fools joke.
Enjoy the week end. Thanks to all of you who wear a mask and observe protocols to keep everyone safe. Mike