What is April Fools Day and what are its origins? It is commonly believed that in medieval France, New Year was celebrated on April 1st. Then in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced a new calendar for the Christian world, changing New Year to January 1st. With no modern communications, news travelled slowly and new ideas were often questioned. Many people did not hear of the change, others chose to ignore it, while some merely forgot. These people were called fools. Invitations to non-existent ‘New Year’ parties were sent and other practical jokes were played. This jesting evolved over time into a tradition of playing pranks on the 1st of April. The custom eventually spread to England and Scotland, and it was later transported across the Atlantic to the American colonies of the English and the French. April Fools Day has now developed into an international festival of fun, with different nationalities celebrating the day in a special way.

In the Lake District, an April Fool is a - 'April noddy'." April noddy's past and gone, You're the fool an' I'm none."

In Cornwall, an April Fool is a 'guckaw' or 'gowk', another word for cuckoo. If a child succeeded in 'taking in' another, he used to shout after him ~ "Fool, fool, the guckaw." On the other hand if the person resisted the trick, he would say ~ "The gowk and the titlene sit on a tree, You're a gowk as weel as me." [ Titlene refers to a hedge sparrow].

In Cheshire, an April Fool is a 'April gawby' or 'gobby or gob'. In Christow in Devon, pranks had to be played in the afternoon. The day there was known as ‘Tail-pipe Day', because it was a custom to pin an inscription ‘Please kick me' to the coat-tails of an unsupecting victim.

 In France and Italy, if someone plays a trick on you, you are the ‘fish of April’. By the month of April fish have only just hatched and are therefore easy to catch. Children stick paper fish to their friends’ backs and chocolate fish are found in the shops. In Scotland, April Fools Day lasts for two days! The second day is called ‘Taily Day’ and tricks on this day involve the bottom (or the ‘tail’ in informal speech). Often a sign saying ‘kick me’ is stuck onto someone’s back without them knowing.

Today, the British play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on April 1st. A common trick is to point to a friends’ shoe and say ‘Your shoelace is untied.’ When they look down, they are laughed at. Schoolchildren might tell a friend that school has been cancelled. Sometimes the media gets involved. In 1957 the BBC Panarama programmme showed an item about spaghetti farmers and how they harvest their crop from spaghetti trees! People actually rang the studio's wanting to get there hands on the plants ! which gives credence to Mark Twain's quote:

"The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year."

 Tomorrow, March 21st, 2007, at precisely 00.06 GMT, the Sun crosses directly over the Earth's equator. This moment is known as the vernal equinox. A date that most of us recognize as symbolic of changing seasons.

Equinox Means "Equal Night" and because the sun is positioned above the equator, day and night are about equal in length all over the world during the equinoxes. These moments owe their significance to the 23.4 degree tilt of the Earth's axis. Because of the tilt, we receive the Sun's rays most directly in the summer. In the winter, when we are tilted away from the Sun, the rays pass through the atmosphere at a greater slant, bringing lower temperatures. If the Earth rotated on an axis perpendicular to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, there would be no variation in day lengths or temperatures throughout the year, and we would not have the seasons that people have recognised for thousands of years. There is no shortage of rituals and traditions surrounding the coming of spring. Many early peoples celebrated for the basic reason that their food supplies would soon be restored. The christian festival of easter and the jewish passover are determined by the first full moon after the vernal equinox. It is also probably no coincidence that early Egyptians built the Great Sphinx so that it points directly toward the rising Sun on the day of the vernal equinox. The first day of spring also marks the beginning of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. The celebration lasts 13 days and is rooted in the 3,000-year-old tradition of Zorastrianism.

 At the time of the Spring Equinox the god and the goddess are ofter portrayed as The Green Man and Mother Earth. The Green Man is said to be born of Mother Earth in the depths of winter and to live through the rest of the year until he dies at Samhain. In celebration pagans carry out particular rituals. A man and woman depicting the roles of Spring God and Goddess, playing out courtship and symbolically planting seeds. Egg races, egg hunts, egg eating and egg painting are also traditional activities at this time of year.

  In England our clocks will "spring" forward 1 hour this coming Sunday, 25th March 2007. 

  SPRING.....

For winter's rains and ruins are over,

And all the season of snows and sins;

The days dividing lover and lover,

The light that loses, the night that wins;

And time remembered is grief forgotten,

And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,

And in green underwood and cover

Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

 Swinbourne (1837–1909)

  O! how this spring of love resembleth

 The uncertain glory of an April day!

          Wm Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

Tennyson  (1809 - 1892)

  Or put another way....

Spring....when a young mans fancy turns to. . .   what the girls have been thinking about all winter.

Following on from part one of 'In search of the facts' my fellow genealogist friend in Utah,'Storyteller' posted the following:

Watching Out For My Neighbour

            My English friend and fellow family history researcher (or genealogist if you will), Laird of Glencairn, wrote an insightful blog on that subject entitled “In Search of the Facts.”  I whole heartedly agree with most of what he wrote.  He wisely looks at genealogical data bases with suspicion, only really trusting what he can later document with original source proof.  However, in referring to the Family Search data base, which is provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (of which I am a member), Laird is critical of “our purpose” in doing this family research in the first place. 

Laird wrote, “I stand to be corrected but the only reason the data is collected is to fulfill the premise that family relationships can last forever – not just for this life.  I do not question that, what I do question is the fact that once a ‘family’ is part of the database they are usually baptized into the Mormon churches doctrine… I have NO RIGHT to change that (person’s) conviction for another. Neither does the Mormon Church.”

Laird raises an honest and reasonable question.  I am no church authority, but I think that I do understand the doctrine.  So I’d like a chance to express how I see it… “My Spin On It” if you will.  I’d like to tell a story first.  This is a true family story about my great great grandpa, Jock Smith.

Jock grew up in Scotland, in the region of the Firth of Forth.  For family survival, he worked the soggy Scottish coal mines “under the sea” from the time he could carry a corf of coal up the mine’s ladders.  So he never had a chance for any education.  He couldn’t read or write.  Hard work and determination is what carried him through life.  In order to immigrate to the United States and out west as a Mormon pioneer, Jock worked along the way including three years spent in Saint Louis, Missouri as a blacksmith.  Even with all of this scrimping and saving there wasn’t enough for him to buy a traditional team for his wagon.  He “made do” with a mule and an ox hitched together to pull his wagon over a thousand miles to his new home in the Utah territory. 

In Utah, Jock took advantage of the federal government’s “Homestead Act”, which allowed a family to make a claim on a certain acreage, build a house, and live there and work the land for a period of time.  If he stayed there and proved the farm was viable for a certain amount of time, then the government would give title to that property to him.

All was well.  Jock the Scottish coal miner became an American farmer.  But it all fell apart one day, when he learned that because he hadn’t properly filed some papers with the federal government, they were taking back the farm, which he had built up from bare ground.  Someone else (who could read and write and understand all the government regulations) had jumped his claim.  Jock had to pick up his family and walk away and start over again.    

Now, I’m like my friend, Laird.  I have many wonderful ancestors who were faithful in their faith.  I have tried to gain an understanding of the Lutheran and Presbyterian religions because it helps me understand my Lutheran and Presbyterian ancestors.  I am sure there are others in my family who were just as devout in other religions as well.  If I go far enough back, I know that my Norwegian ancestors weren’t Christian because Christianity wasn’t introduced there until about half way through the Viking era.  So I would think that my pre-Christian ancestors from Norway were good devout pagans.  I choose to believe that they were likely living the best lives they could… just like I am trying to do today. 

Now, for most who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and as our Redeemer and our God, along with that belief comes an understanding that they must do something to be a Christian.  Some believe that a verbal invitation to Jesus is what is required.  Some believe the ordinance of baptism is required.

Most Christian Churches believe that baptism is an important part of Jesus’ teachings in the Bible.  Some have interpreted this teaching to mean that if someone isn’t baptized a Christian, that person is dammed in hell.  Others say if so, then God is not a just God.  So they interpret the baptism requirement differently. 

The belief of my faith is that Jesus Christ does in fact require baptism requisite to making his atonement for sin effective in our lives.  I believe it is requisite to living with him, and my family, in the eternities. 

So identifying my ancestors, and offering to fulfill this requirement for them is like if a neighbor had come up to my 2 greats grandpa, Jock, and said, “Jock, I was in at the land office and I saw that you were about to loose your farm, cause you haven’t filled out and signed all their papers and now your dead line for doing so is already past.” 

Jock might have panicked and said, “I didn’t know there was something more I was supposed to do.”  In this little parable, the neighbor would then say, “You don’t need to worry about it.  I filled out those papers for you.  All you have to do is go on into the land office and let them know that you do want to keep your farm.  You just need to go in and put your X on the dotted line.”

In this comparison, the neighbor hasn’t reduced Jock’s choices or options, but conversely, he’s increased them.  He could still take his family and walk away and start over somewhere else. But now he also has the choice of going into the land office and putting his X on the paperwork after his deadline had passed.  I love my ancestors.  I love learning of their love and devotion to their beliefs.  I wouldn’t undermine their convictions.  I wouldn’t be a neighbor trying to force them to “keep the farm.”  They could say “No thanks” and walk away.  But if I believe that Baptism is requisite to “entering into the Kingdom of Heaven”, which I do, then I wouldn’t be a good neighbor to not fill out the forms in the land office so the option is available.

I thank him for taking the time to explain the formulation of the IGI database and its purpose. Its existance as a tool for research is most welcome but as to its purpose. . .

It still does nt answer my basic question as to why? Why is it necessary to place these people into a box marked 'religion'? In today's society few children are in fact 'baptised', they are usually 'welcomed ' into the family in a more informal way. Could my descendants in say, 1000 years time, change me from gentile to jew, buddist to muslim? Should I claim all my french, dutch and norman ancestors as 'English'? Let us also remember that it was John who preached that, 'Baptism is a prerequisite to “entering into the Kingdom of Heaven"', he did after all bless jesus.  This discussion however is not one of religion but as to whether you should or indeed have the right,to 're - box' an ancestors basic life style.The vikings and romans believed in what are termed 'pagan' gods, yet they believed in the same principles of life, love and an afterlife. Not only would bronze age man recognise the teachings in modern holy books - they formulated the theories! It is a fact that the vast majority of our forebears WERE baptised and later confirmed, as protestants, catholics, methodists et al. Why is it necessary to 're baptise' them?  Are they being 're baptised' as christians or as mormons? Religion was nt just for sunday,or saturday, even friday - it was a way of life. As my friend has pointed out, religion permeated the society 200 years ago far more than it does today and in understanding that,we grow closer to our kith and kin. This helping hand to valhalla, like wearing belt and braces, to me seems a little over the top. The Quaker's who sailed to make a new life in the colonies did so as a result of catholic persecution. In my humble opinion to 're baptise' them is saying their convictions and view of christian worship was wrong and that the only real true baptism, and consequent salvation,is a Mormon one. I bet the vatican counsel wished they had thought of that first!

 

     This week I have been busy doing odd jobs around the castle. I won't say DIY because I am to that hobby what an iceberg was to the Titanic.  The sun is shining but as yet not much heat - so gardening is out. I have been doing a few searches on here with regard the table at the top of the blog. Henry is an enigma within a mystery, where was he born? A question I have been posing for some 10 years. I am dismayed, [that is putting it mildly],  to find that he has been discarded and that his son, William, my Great Great Grandfather has been 'allocated ' another dad! Why do I now my link is correct? I have William's Marriage certificate, and a record of his baptism, naming his parents.  I have found that genealogy is a worthwhile and absorbing hobby, it is almost addictive. The answer to one question throws up several more, it seems their are always more questions than answers. The proliferation of data on the internet is useful, but can be a down right nuisance in the life of a dedicated researcher. Many newbies to family history reasearch believe everything they read on the internet, consequently they become purveyors of false assumptions, untruths and downright lies. One, if not the largest worldwide database, is shared by the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly referred to as Mormons. This should only be used as an index. A point of reference from where the REAL research should begin. That entails checking actual certification of a fact, either in the public or church records. Those who use the site probably never read the warning at the head of this database: 'A common mistake is to gather every reference to the surname even if the person is not clearly a relative'.

However this tomb perpetuates that fallacy. In fact it encourages its users to make erroneous connections between one human being and another - whose only commonality is a surname. I have many examples of my relations being incorrectly 'assigned' to a particular family branch. One example is my Great Grandmother Eliizabeth, born in 1849 and in the 1851 census with her parents and siblings. A tenuous link was assumed, an untruth published and now the lie remains unaltered. Once data is published on a site, owners refuse to change it - even when given documentary evidence. Why? Their 'information' has come from data assembled within LDS Personal Ancestral File, and appears inviolet. I stand to be corrected but the only reason the data is collected is to fulfill the premise that family relationships can last forever — not just for this life. I do not question that, what I do question is the fact that once a 'family ' is part of the database they are usually baptised into the Mormon churches doctrine. Now regular reader's will realise I have a deep dislike of any form of indoctrination, be it religious or political. Family historians are collectors of leaves and twigs that they hope will eventually look like a tree. A genealogist be it professional or amateur takes almost the same bits and pieces, puts them in a historical context and breathes life into ancestors who have made us what we are today. Our friend,'Storyteller' is an example of a researcher putting 'meat ' on the bones of his research. Many of my ancestors have held strong religious beliefs and some have been persecuted for being either a catholic or protestant. I may understand if not share that point of view, I have NO RIGHT to change that conviction for another. Neither does the Mormon Church.

Perhaps that database needs a furthur warning : READERS BEWARE OF DUFF INFORMATION.