April Fool’s Day is celebrated around the world each year in April 1, when people play pranks and try fool one another with bogus stories. The origins of April Fool’s Day are hazy, largely because the tradition is so old. There are records of the day right back to the early 1500s in France. Here’s a look at some of the origin theories, and the rules on how to play. Related articles April Fool's Day live: Roundup of the best pranks and jokes Labour minister's 'BUMBLING' BBC interview compared to 'APRIL FOOL'S' Where does April Fool’s come from? An 18th-century folk rhyme goes: The first of April some do say, Is set apart for All Fools' Day; But why the people call it so Nor I, nor they themselves, do know… Andrea Livesey, a historian from the University of Bristol, told the BBC: There is surprisingly little known about the origins of April Fools' Day and there are a large number of completely different - and quite entertaining - theories of its origin." April Fool's Day: A depiction of April Fool's Dayt circa 1770 (Image: Getty) Here are some of the origin theories of April Fool’s Day, sometimes known as All Fool’s Day: 1: Calendars Something called renewal festivals date back to Roman times - these were a celebration at the start of a new year or season. Things went a bit off kilter in these celebrations, with servants controlling the masters and children bossing their parents around. March is the time of the Spring Equinox, so people think the joker tradition could come from this, as the beginning of spring and planting flowers was considered the start of the new year. There is another calendar theory about when people started celebrating the new year at the beginning of January, instead of the end of March. Those who continued to celebrate it at the end of March, rather than on January 1 like we do today, were considered to be fools and had jokes played on them. Related articles James Bond: Does Tom Hardy REALLY want to be 007 ‘I’m good to go’ EU planning Brexit delay until April Fool's Day 2020 April Fool's Day: A French train station was renamed 'Potato' as a prank in 1994 (Image: Getty) 2: Poetry Some have argued that a story told by early English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century - where a fox plays a prank on a rooster (who is almost eaten because of it) - is the first reference to pranks taking place on the first of April. The poem doesn't actually directly refer to April 1st though. In the poem, he says 32 days "syn March began", which people have said is "32 days since March began" which would be April 1. But those who don't believe this theory say he was just using confusing words to make fun of people in the poem. 3: Fishing April Fool’s Day is actually known as April Fish Day in some parts of Europe. The earliest concrete records we have about April 1 are from France and Holland in the 1500s. People think this is because there are a lot of fish in French streams and rivers around April 1, and they are easy to catch - foolish fish! So it soon became a tradition to play tricks on people on April 1 too. April Fool's Day: A Canadian newspaper pranked readers with this image in Toronto Harbour (Image: Getty) When does April Fool’s end? You’ve only got a few hours left to get your pranks on if you’re in the UK: April Fool’s pranks must be done by midday. If you play a prank after midday, then the joke’s on you and you are the fool. This rule is said to date back to at least the 1700s which says anyone pulling pranks after noon is considered ‘fools’ themselves because they don’t know the rules, or have failed to acknowledge them.All rights reserved for this news site express.co.uk and under his responsibility