It's an interesting fact that in Spain, the
traditional equivalent of April Fools' Day is
celebrated on December 28th. On this date,
called the Innocent Saints' Day, the Catholic
Church remembers the children killed by order of
King Herod (see New Testament for details).
Since the Middle Ages this date has somehow became
a sort of Fools' Day. A traditional trick is
sticking a paper man to someone's back and still
today, every Dec 28th, Spanish newspapers and
TV will play their pranks.
Fun being made of the slaughtering of children
could seem strange or inappropriate, but the
blend of devout religiosity and black humor is
actually very distinctive of the Spanish character.
A funny thing is that we Spaniards are mostly
oblivious to the fact that on April 1st we must
not believe everything we read and watch from
foreign media. This leads to embarrassing mistakes
like Spanish computer magazines reporting
the launch of the revolutionary A-migadrive.