No more April fools?

05.APR.11

With schools on vacation, last Friday was quieter than usual. In the process, one of our long-standing traditions, inherited from colonialism though it might be, passed virtually unnoticed. Last Friday was April 1, and in days “of yore”, it was known as ALL FOOLS’ DAY. What a day it used to be!{{more}} A day when the population, young and old alike, indulged themselves in playing pranks on one another, making fools of one another, hence the term “All Fools”.

The tradition has European origins, with various claims to have been started in France in the 16th century, though the English-speaking Caribbean would certainly have adopted the practices from the British colonialists. Like many other cultural practices passed on from the Europeans, this one was adapted to suit the particular circumstances and environment of the colonial “West Indies”. The idea was to “fool” your friend or neighbour, sometimes in most ingenious ways, but always designed to have a good laugh when the extent of the benign trickery was discovered.

Over the years though, many of these traditional practices have been disappearing with the cultural displacement that has come with the modernisation of society. All Fools’ day is one of the victims of this “modernization”. Once immensely popular, the day was etched in the memory of every schoolchild; for, to forget it would be at your own peril. April 1 has, gradually at first, but more rapidly in recent years, lost its significance.

Cultural penetration, facilitated by the modern communication technology that can spread all sorts of trends and fashions overnight, has certainly contributed to this erosion of such local traditions. Perhaps this is best demonstrated by comparing the contrasting fortunes of All Fools’ Day and Valentine’s Day. Just a few decades ago, Valentine’s Day was of no great significance in our society, but as the traditional practices became more and more the victims of our modernisation, so too did such practices as the observation of Valentine’s Day grow in importance. After all, there are huge financial rewards to be obtained out of Valentine spending!

As a result, most of the younger generation would be blissfully unaware of All Fools’ Day, and would know little of the pranks played. Many of these would just not be possible in a modern society with the means of communication right at our finger tips. Take the practice of tricking children by giving them fake messages or sending them on wild errands. One simple cellphone call today would ascertain whether the message is genuine. You would not have to walk from one village to another to find out that a trick has been played on you.

It brings us to the realisation that modernisation has its pluses and minuses, and evolving societies need to develop strategies to deal with it. The spread of electricity and street lights, for instance, has resulted in lifting many of the superstitions which arose from the prevalence of darkness, such as the “moko jumbie” stories. But modernisation has also taken its toll on a lot of rich cultural traditions, as we have failed to manage the transition and have in many cases thrown out the proverbial “baby with the bath-water”. It is a task that we must undertake consciously if we are to preserve our sense of cultural identity and allow our young people, even as they take their place in a modern world, to be aware and proud of their historical roots.