Palm Sunday In Czech Republic And 1 April Full Of Jokes

1 April 2007, 14:05 - Culture
As everywhere in the Christian world, one week ahead Easter. Today, Sunday before Easter is "Palm Sunday" (well in Czech Rep. there are no palms, so the name for the feast is "Kvetna nedele" which means something like "Flourish – or Flower – Sunday") by which we enter to the Holy Week.

This year's Palm Sunday falls on 1 April, which is also known in many countries including Czech Republic as a April Fools' Day marked by hoaxes and jokes on friends and family members. Daily newspapers are issued today, so many joking redactors moved to web to create some funny news: something between real story and fiction.

For example, Czech financial server fincentrum.idnes.cz wrote, that a new bank (Land Bank of New York) is to settle in Czech Republic. The bank should give 14 % interest on current accounts and offer credits over the phone without any documents. As the server writes down the bank uses the newest technology to identify whether the clients tell the truth over the phone line.

It is still not clear where is the origin of this feast of all fools. We know that the first written mention of April Fools' Day dates back to 1690, and at the end of 18th century we could find quite a lot of mentions on joking on first April day.

A group of scientist says the tradition originates from calendar reforms introduced by Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar in 46 BC. 1st April became the day when New Year began, on the day when people give gifts to another. But there are further different explanations.