<P> In Scotland, April Fools' Day was traditionally called' Huntigowk Day', although this name has fallen into disuse . The name is a corruption of' Hunt the Gowk', "gowk" being Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person; alternative terms in Gaelic would be Là na Gocaireachd,' gowking day', or Là Ruith na Cuthaige,' the day of running the cuckoo' . The traditional prank is to ask someone to deliver a sealed message that supposedly requests help of some sort . In fact, the message reads "Dinna laugh, dinna smile . Hunt the gowk another mile ." The recipient, upon reading it, will explain he can only help if he first contacts another person, and sends the victim to this next person with an identical message, with the same result . </P> <P> In England a "fool" is known by different names around the country, including a "noodle", "gob", "gobby" or "noddy". </P> <P> In Ireland, it was traditional to entrust the victim with an "important letter" to be given to a named person . That person would then ask the victim to take it to someone else, and so on . The letter when finally opened contained the words "send the fool further". </P> <P> In Poland, prima aprilis ("1 April" in Latin) as a day of jokes is a centuries - long tradition . It is a day in which many jokes are told; various hoaxes--sometimes very sophisticated--are prepared by people, media (which often cooperate to make the "information" more credible) and even public institutions . Serious activities are usually avoided, and generally every word said on April 1st can be a lie, or a joke . The conviction for this is so strong that the Polish anti-Turkish alliance with Leopold I signed on April 1, 1683, was backdated to March 31 . However, for some in Poland prima aprilis ends at noon of April 1st, and prima aprilis jokes after that hour are considered inappropriate and not classy . </P>

What's the significance of april fool's day