Oatmeal Pranks and Fast Horses:

A Sweet (or Salty) Morning in Gayville on the South Dakota Prairie

Here is an April Fools prank my grandmother pulled on her brother as a teenager.

This isn’t covered in my manuscript, but I thought you might like to hear the story about the woman who would become the wife and mother in the story that will soon be published.

Janette’s mother, Winnie (my grandmother), was born on January 8, 1894, on a farm near Gayville, S.D., Clay County, not far from the Missouri River. If you are good at visualizing the states in the United States, think about the area near the junctions of South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.

Adobe Stock by TeddyandMia

https://ontheworldmap.com/usa/state/nebraska/map-of-nebraska-and-iowa.html

Janette’s mother’s given name was Winnie. Everyone called her Winnie; however, as an adult, she liked Winifred better, although all her siblings, nieces, and nephews continued to address her as Winnie or Aunt Winnie. Russell called her Winifred. Those outside the family called her Mrs. Minehart, as it was customary not to use first names.

Winnie was responsible and a hard worker. She had dark brown hair. She was thin. She liked to learn, loved school, and hoped to graduate from a university and have a career.

She rode her horse to high school. Early the morning of April 1, she saddled her horse while her father agreed to hold the horse. Then, she returned to the house while her father stayed with the saddled-up horse. She replaced the sugar bowl with salt. She then stood by the door. Vern came down the stairs and sat at the table. He took a spoonful from the sugar bowl and sprinkled it on his bowl of cereal. He started to yell at Winnie, who flew out the door and jumped on the horse as her father handed her the reins. Winnie rode that horse as fast as it would go and was long gone by the time Vern ran out the door to scold her.

Personally, I like jokes and puns that are funny, and I see this as slightly cruel and wasteful, considering the oatmeal would be ruined.

I like the story because it shows a little sibling teasing between two people who I always saw as old and staid. The fact that Winnie’s father participated shows a little of the family dynamics.

clipart-library.com

Back row: Winifred, Wilber, James Vern, Carroll and Estella. Seated row left to right: Roy, James Young, Howard, Lenora, Sybil. Seated in front is Nina. My mother thought the family's thought that Vern might be drafted into the Great War may have spurred the reason to take this photo. The United States entered the Great War on April 2, 1917. The war began 2 1/2 years before that. My second cousin, Jim Wilcox, said he thought this photo was taken in 1915. The exact date of the photo is unknown. (Photo credit: from an album that Jim Wilcox has)

A bit about the history of April Fools.

I wondered, did my grandmother and her siblings really play April Fools jokes on each other way back over 100 years ago?

Well, no one really knows how it got started, but April Fools Day pranks have been going on for centuries.

Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.

Since we just had a snow and ice storm, here is a theory I like: There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

Please comment and let me know what some of the best April Fools’ Day jokes or pranks you’ve experienced.

Thanks for reading,

Naomi

Sources:

https://www.history.com/articles/april-fools-day

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/holidays/april-fools-day-origins-history-iconic-pranks/6202622/