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APRIL FOOL! It has been very often inquired, whence this custom was derived. The Editor believes it to be a custom of great antiquity. The ancients had many rites and ceremonies in honour of their gods. The Romans kept their Saturnalia in honour of Saturn, beginning on the 17th December, which lasted during five days. Bocharius is of opinion they took their origin from Noah’s drunkenness. These were times when all business ceased except cooking ; when servants might command their masters, and slaves become unruly without fear of punishment. The Bacchanalia, or feasts in honour of Bacchus, lasted three days, and commenced after the vine harvests, and then drunkenness was the privilege of all. The Stultinaria were confined to one day, the 1st of April, when the idiots had their annual holiday, and when children were encouraged to make derision of them, and send them on needless errands, &c. Some writers are of opinion, that the Romans had much policy in allowing these feasts, or holidays. By the first (Saturnalia), they saw how servants and slaves would act had they power. By the second (Bacchanalia), they were able to discover the natural inclinations and vices of all that inebriated themselves. And the encouragement they gave to children, in the third instance (Stultinaria), to deride fools, would, they hoped, make them desirous to receive their education, lest they might, in time, become themselves objects of derision and contempt.
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