Ah, April Fools' Day — the famous day during which we all have to make sure our toilet paper is accounted for, refuse to answer calls from numbers we don't recognize, and generally question anything our loved ones tell us. So how did this stupid holiday even come about? The truth is that it developed over the course of centuries, and people around the world got in on the fun. A precursor to April Fools' Day could be the celebration of the vernal equinox by the Greeks and Romans, during which the sun appears to leave the Southern Hemisphere and cross the celestial equinox.

During the Middle Ages in France, most believed that the beginning of the year was January 1, but a few believed that it fell closer to Easter. Writers suggested that those in the former party referred to those in the latter as being fools.

It wasn't until Charles IX set the record straight with the Edict of Roussillon in 1564 that the new year was officially celebrated on January 1 in France.

In 1686, British philosopher John Aubrey declared April 1 as "Fooles Holy Day." During the same year, a strange tradition began that saw people trying to trick others into visiting the Tower of London to see "the annual ceremony of washing the lions."

Needless to say, there were no lions, but the prank continued for more than a century. Some believe this to be the first recurring April Fools' Day prank ever recorded.