Editorial: April Fool’s Day should be a public holiday

If the King can get public holiday just for being born, then I should get one for being funny.  

April Fool’s Day is the day when those of us who can make people laugh should be put on a pedestal. For every giggle we have induced over the past year, we should get a gold coin donation.  

But while the general public can be far too serious, they don’t take April Fool’s Day seriously enough. Like the current public holidays, April Fool’s Day has a long and rich history, making it a strong contender for 2026’s list of New Zealand public holidays. 

The holiday began in France in the 1500s, when they changed from the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar) to the Gregorian calendar which we still use today. In the old calendar, the year started on April 1st, but the new calendar began on January 1st. Yet another reason April Fool’s should be a public holiday — it's the original New Years!  

It took a while for word to travel about the new calendar system, so many kept celebrating New Years on April 1st — which led to the natural mocking of the April fool. Those confused became victims of pranks, including having a paper fish placed on their backs to symbolise a gullible, easily caught person. These people were called “poisson d’avril”, meaning April fish. 

The first mention of April Fools’ Day in Britain was in 1686, when biographer John Aubrey described April 1st as a “Fooles holy day.” By the 18th century, Scotland had begun a two-day tradition for April pranks. The first day involved sending people on fake errands, and the second day involved fake tails and ‘kick me’ signs being secretly pinned on bums.  

If Scotland could have two days for April Fools, can’t we at least have one?  

There is some speculation that April Fool’s Day could be tied to Mother Nature of all people. Some believe the day could be related to the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature is fooling us with the unpredictable change of weather. She’s just goofy like that.  

Currently, there are 11 national public holidays in New Zealand. But all of these eleven days are for serious occasions. We as a country have a natural funny bone, and our list of public holidays should reflect this. We need a day where we can reflect on the time that guy said “Nek minnit” in 2011, or the ghost chips drunk driving ad, or when Chris Hipkins told people to “Go out and spread their legs” in 2021.  

I want to see politicians sneak into each other's offices, co-workers moving each other’s cars to weird places, and parents lying to their kids (hopefully making them cry).  

I would dare to say that Kiwi’s love to laugh more than they like the monarchy. If the limit is 11 public holidays, then let's cut King’s Birthday, and replace it with April Fool’s Day.