The month of April, synonymous with the earth reawakening after winter, often brings the spring storms that inspired the famous proverb, “April showers bring May flowers.” 

The saying highlights nature's cycles of renewal that have been observed for centuries. It was most likely modernized from the line “Swéete April showers, Doo spring Maie flowers” from a poem by Thomas Tusser in his 16th-century collection A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry.

Here’s a look at the fourth month in the Gregorian calendar, a time of rebirth with a long history of celebrations and events, some virtually forgotten:

The name April comes from the Latin “Aprilis,” likely related to “aperire,“ meaning “to open,” a nod to spring’s arrival. The month’s name has also been attributed to Apru, which is Etruscan for the Greek goddess Aphrodite, associated with love, beauty and fertility. 

April was originally the second month in the Roman calendar—that is, until the addition of January and February in the 7th century B.C.E by Roman king Numa Pompilius, a movement to a 12-month lunar calendar that shifted April to its current position as the fourth month of the year.

April’s full moon, traditionally called the “Pink Moon,” doesn’t actually cast a pink glow. It is named for the pink moss phlox wildflower, which goes into full bloom in the eastern U.S. around the time of the April full moon.

April also brings the annual Lyrids meteor shower, with observations dating back 2,700 years. The phenomenon light up the heavens from mid-April to late April, when people can typically see 10 to 20 meteors per hour in clear night skies.

“Lyrids don’t tend to leave long, glowing dust trains behind them as they streak through the Earth’s atmosphere, but they can produce the occasional bright flash called a fireball,” NASA notes. 

Earth Day, Arbor Day and Passover and Easter, when they fall in April, are the month’s most prominent holidays. And then there’s April Fools’ Day. The French call someone duped by an April Fools' Day prank a "poisson d'Avril," or "April fish." According to Steven Winick, folklorist at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, the name stems from the fact that "fish were plentiful and hungry in the spring, and thus easy to catch—an 'April fish' was more gullible than a fish at other times of the year."

Some centuries-old April traditions have since disappeared or diminished in importance.

Hocktide, a British medieval festival that starts the second Monday after Easter, often falls in April and is still celebrated in Hungerford, England. The two-week fest includes a feast of macaroni and cheese with watercress—and ale—that marked the end of the one-year period when rents, fines and tolls were due. 

Hungerford also features the medieval tradition of Tutti-Day, when men hoping to become town constables historically toured the town all day, each carrying with Tutti-pole (a 6-foot-tall staff decorated with ribbons and flowers). Their goal was to visit every household, where they hoped to collect a “head-penny” and a kiss from women in each home as tips for keeping the peace.  (The women are also given an orange.)

Cerealia, an ancient seven-day Roman festival held in April, honored not breakfast cereal—but Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, grain and fertility. Festivities included chariot races and theatrical performances, and festival participants, who wore white, made offerings and blood sacrifices to the goddess. On the festival’s last day, foxes with lit torches tied to their tails were released in the Circus Maximus stadium.

On April 13, 1360, a freak hailstorm killed more than 1,000 English soldiers invading France in an event known as Black Monday. They were hit by large hailstones, crushed in a horse stampede and frozen to death by bone-chilling temperatures. Three weeks later, Britain’s King Edward III made peace with France.

On April 13, 1796, the first elephant arrived in the U.S. by ship to the port of New York City. The 2-year-old female pachyderm, called Old Bet, was purchased in the south Asian region of Bengal and toured the U.S. as a curiosity before being bought by Hachaliah Bailey, who later helped form the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Ads for Old Bet’s public appearances noted admittance prices of “one quarter of a dollar–children one eighth of a dollar.”

On April 18, 1930, the BBC famously announced, “There is no news” during its evening radio broadcast. According to the "BBC’s 90 x 90: The Full Set," the decision to play piano music instead of reading the news for 15 minutes was based on the conclusion that there was “nothing of significance that the public was meant to hear” that day. That 1930 broadcast lineup also included two church services, a weather forecast, concert music, a poetry reading and sports bulletins.