It’s traditional in many countries in the west to play tricks on people on April 1st. The earliest evidence of this is from France. There, the tradition is called Poisson d’avril or April Fish, since, on that day, the French will often tape a cardboard fish onto someone’s backside or send them on...

The Ides of March is on March 15th every year. The expression Beware the Ides of March can mean beware of impending danger. If someone says Beware the Ides of March referring to March 15th itself, it can have the sense of March 15th being a bad luck day, just like Friday the 13th. The word...