The 1st of April is considered in many countries as April Fools Day.
It is amazing that many people have been conditioned to think that
astrology is superstition and nevertheless they are superstitious about
April Fools Day or even of Friday the 13. Not many people know the
roots of superstition on those days.

The fear of Friday the 13 was born from the time when the Templars in
France were arrested on Friday 13 October 1307, when at dawn the king‚s
men arrested all the Templars in France and their possessions were
confiscated. Psychologically the arrest of the Templars had a powerful
effect on many people because it was obvious an abuse of power from the
part of King Philippe IV and Pope Clement XII who colluded in bringing
down a powerful society like the Templars. In fact the intimidation was
so great that the leader of the Templars, Jacques de Molay and Geoffroi
de Charnay, Preceptor of Normandy, were burned to death in March 1314
in the Isle of the City in Paris (very close to the Cathedral of Notre
Dame). A placard saying of that incident can be seen nowadays at the
entry to the park were the execution took place. From that park it is
possible to see nowadays the famous Museum the Louvre on the other side
of the river Seine.

And in regard to April the 1st, when it was found that the Christian
calendar had to be adjusted because after centuries of use and not
considering of adding to it an extra day every 4 years, it was behind
astronomically and the Pope Gregory decreed that October 5,1582 was
going to be October 15, 1582, thus Œloosing‚ 10 days. However because
of the Precession of the equinox the sun travels one degree Œbackwards‚
(equivalent to one day) every 72 years and because of this some people
in France around the middle of the 17 century, unaware of the changes
in the calendar or not wanting to change their customs, were still
celebrating the Spring equinox on 1 April instead of 21 March. In
other words, they did not realize that astronomically the spring
equinox was happening on 21 March instead of 1 April. That is why
people around used to laugh at them for being Œfools‚ for celebrating
the spring equinox on 1 April when in reality they were behind by 11
days.

---From Natabara Das

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