April’s Fools’!

Happy Easter EVERYONE and Happy April Fools’ Day!, which is—celebrated on April 1 each year by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools’ Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools’ Day prank. Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. In the Julian Calendar the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.

People who were slow to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

From the 25ht of March throughout the month of April, the celebration of Daffodil day is very important for Ireland and in some other European countries. Daffodils are a flower that have been symbolically linked to the fight against cancer for many years, now. Representing “hope”, they stand for all the efforts of communities and volunteer groups in the search for a cure. Daffodil Day is all about showing your support for cancer research, awareness, and cancer societies who are doing their best with volunteers to raise funds. As such, it’s easy to find local societies and organisations near you who can use some help.

You can dedicate a daffodil to loved one or simply to the cause, too. This can mean buying a daffodil from a volunteer group and pinning it to your clothes, joining an origami daffodil event and donating, or even creating a virtual daffodil.

Starting this month, we have decided to organise a personalised space for whoever would like to post their own work of art, their drawings, or poems or anything that YOU would like to have published in our newsletter. THIS MONTH we are very proud to publish the work of our very talented Leona. Leona is a brilliant sketcher and artist and she has kindly presented us with one of her drawings on Ireland. And of course, the theme this month is Easter.

Hope you enjoy the photos that were sent into us this week.

From the high school team.

Sarah, Melissa, Michelle, Maebh and Manlio