April Fool's Day is traditionally a day of jolly hoaxes and pranks. It is related to a change in attribution of New Year's Day to 1st January in line with the
Gregorian calendar (introduced in 1582), which resulted in quid pro quo amongst the populations of Europe. 'The motivation for the reform was to bring the date for the celebration of Easter to the time of the year in which the
First Council of Nicaea had agreed upon in 325. Because the celebration of Easter was tied to the
Spring equinox,
the Roman Catholic Church considered this steady drift in the date of
Easter undesirable. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic
countries of Europe. Protestants and Eastern Orthodox
countries continued to use the traditional Julian calendar and adopted
the Gregorian reform after a time, for the sake of convenience in
international trade. The last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923.' (
Wikipedia).
Now if you are not acquainted with French, Belgian, French Canadian, French Swiss or Italian traditions around April Fool's Day, you may not be aware that we like it fishy! Children (and the young at heart) attach handmade paper fishes in the back of unsuspecting relatives, friends, co-workers (yes!) and passers-by. The fish has some religious (Catholic) connotation attached to it, but whether you are a devout or not is totally irrelevant. What matters is to bring a smile to someone's face.
These days though, instead of sticking fishes in people's backs, I'd rather stick a fish dish on a loved one's table as a present! Those featured here are by Irish ceramicist
Andrew Ludick and they bring together the decorative and the practical. His dishy
Handpainted Ocean Life Platters are available to purchase from
Crate & Barrel.
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