Anthropologists and cultural historians provide their own explanations for the rise of April Fool's Day. According to them, the celebration traces its roots back to festivals marking the Springtime.
Spring is the time of year when the weather becomes fickle, as if Nature is playing tricks on man, and festivals occurring during the Spring traditionally mirrored this sense of whimsy and surprise. They often involved temporary inversions of the social order. Normal behavior no longer governed during the brief moment of transition as the old world died and the new cycle of seasons was born. Practical jokes,trickery, and the turning upside down of status expectations were all allowed.
人类学家及文化历史学家们对愚人节的起源有自己的解释。他们认为,愚人节可以追溯到纪念春天的节日。每到春天,天气就开始变得变化无常,就好像大自然在对人类搞恶作剧,按照传统,春天的一些节日都反映了人们的某种奇想和惊奇之感。同时也涉及到一些社会秩序的暂时颠倒。在废旧迎新的短暂转折之计正常的行为不再受到支配,一些玩笑,诡计,以及预期身份的倒置都会得到允许。