April Fool’s Day is traditionally a day to play jokes on others. No one knows how this holiday began but it was thought to be stared in France.

Some of the tricks on April Fool’s Day are very simple, such as saying, “Your shoe’s untied!” Some are carefully planned. Setting a roommate’s alarm clock back an hour is a common trick. Some newspapers, TV channels and well-known companies publish false news stories to fool people on April 1st. For example, a British short film once shown on April Fool’s Day was about spaghetti farmers and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees. Whatever the trick is, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim (受害者), “April Fool!”

Each country celebrates April Fool’s Day differently. In France, the April Fool’s Day is called “April Fish”. The French fool their friends by sticking a paper fish on their friends’ backs and when someone discovers this trick, they will yell “April Fish!”. In England, tricks can be played only in the morning. You must play your April Fool’s Day joke before midday, otherwise you will be the fool. If a trick is played on you, you will be called a “noodle”.

April Fool’s Day is a “for-fun-only” holiday. Nobody is expected to buy gifts for friends or to take their friends out to eat in a fancy restaurant. Nobody gets off work or school. It’s simply a fun holiday. But it’s a holiday on which one must remain forever vigilant (警惕的), for he or she may be the next April Fool!

In America, Thanksgiving Day is an important festival. It comes on the fourth Thursday in November. On this day, people walk or drive cars full of flowers on the streets and eat turkey and pumpkin pies at home. They have different kinds of activities to celebrate it. It’s a day to remember the history and to show their thanks.

People usually come back home on that day. All the family members get together with some friends. Everyone is glad to see each other. At about four o’clock, the family and their friends sit down to dinner. They give thanks for the good things they got, and then start to share the turkey. People always have a big dinner. They usually eat turkey and pumpkin pies. After dinner, no one go away and they all sit around and talk, play word games or tell jokes (笑话) until it is time to go to bed. It is always difficult to leave because Thanksgiving Day is one of the few days for family get-together around the year.

What does Beijing’s Palace Museum look like at night? Many people don’t know the answer to this question, as it closes at around 4:30 p.m. in winter and 5:00 p.m. in summer. However, to celebrate the Lantern Festival, Beijing’s Palace Museum opened its door to the public after dark—for two nights only. Although people could get free tickets on the museum’s website, it was difficult to get a ticket. The website even stopped working for a while because too many people visited it at the same time. Zhang Zhifu, a 77-year-old woman, received a ticket from the museum as a gift. “I grew up in Beijing and I visited the Palace Museum every year, but I never got to see it at night. It is truly an honor.” She said.

In the past celebrating the Lantern Festival was a tradition for the imperial (皇帝的) family. “We want to pass the tradition on and give people more festival experience（体验）.” said Shan Jixiong, the head of the Palace Museum. On the night of February19th,2019, about 3,000 visitors spent the Lantern Festival in the Palace Museum.