As April approaches and the annual trickster holiday approaches, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the purpose of the trickster in lore and legend as well as in history. April Fools has become a day dedicated to tricking people, but I feel like it's lost the purpose for which Tricksters were designed. Instead of being a way to make people think or even a way to bring joy and laughter into life, it has become a way to say or do mean things intended to hurt or humiliate others.
Many cultures have tricksters in their pantheon, and on the surface these beings seem to delight in causing mischief and stirring up trouble. Often they create situations that others have to figure ways out of, though they often catch themselves in their tricks as well. But if you look at the greater purpose of these trickster stories, it is often to teach life lessons.
The trickster isn't always the teacher in the story, sometimes someone else steps into that role, and the trickster becomes the instrument of chaos, the being that creates the situation that the people need to be saved from. But, at the end of the story, the people are better off because of the way they adapted to the situation the trickster created.
In the stories, tricksters are chaos embodied, and chaos doesn't always act with intention. These beings often act out of pure instinct. They stir the pot just to see what happens. They don't think before they talk (or act), and then they may have to figure a way out of their own mess. Where they redeem themselves is with their quick thinking, and they often find a way to twist the story to point out the good that was learned because of their rash actions.
When we leave the stories behind, and we look at tricksters in history, we not only look at entertainers, but also roles like the jester. Jesters or the court fool were deliberately silly and over the top. They made outrageous statements, said and did things that were often seen as mocking of the powers that be, and generally got away with things that no one else could.
But under the surface, the good ones were being very deliberate and careful in the types of taunts they used. They had to be quite attuned to the powers they worked for, and the common people, and find the balance between pointing out truths that everyone was thinking (but no one was brave enough to say) and not pushing things too far. A good jester could advise the powers about issues and give them information about how their people viewed them.
And, of course, tricksters are often clowns....designed to make people laugh. Tricksters are free from a lot of the social constraints that bind us. They are able to be silly and outlandish, and it's okay to laugh at them. We know how important laughter is to our mental health, and while today we have many outlets for inserting humor into our lives, it hasn't always been that way.
Tricksters, both in person (as clowns or comedy actors or any other profession who's purpose was to make people laugh) and in story (lore, legend and fiction) help people deal with the stress of life by giving them a form of release from the heaviness of the day to day grind.
Physical comedy has always been a thing. We get embarrassed when we hurt ourselves or do something foolish (there's that word again...when we act like a fool), and it makes us feel less self-conscious about our own stumbles when we laugh at other people. But, because we have empathy, we don't feel good about laughing when other people make the same mistakes, and that's where tricksters come in.
Slapstick is a form of comedy that mimics those embarrassing mistakes, and lets us laugh at them without guilt...because we know that people are performing an act for us. They are making a show of being hurt or dropping things, and we can laugh without feeling like we are hurting their feelings.
The problem (as I see it), is that some people have taken the trickster idea and use it to actually hurt people (physically or emotionally), by 'tricking' them. We have taken the form of the trickster and turned it into a form of bullying. And often, these harmful acts are done in mimicry of staged performances meant to make people laugh (like those shows where a group of people agree to try to prank or otherwise trick each other....but then fans start doing the same things to people who haven't agreed to be a part of it).
There is a thin line to walk between humor and harm, but the biggest thing I think to stay mindful of, when thinking about tricksters and their purpose is: what is your intent? Do you want to make someone laugh (and you have to step out of your own perspective and into theirs...would the target of your joke find it funny) or do you want people to laugh AT the target (who probably is either embarrassed, scared or hurt by your actions).
Tricksters have a purpose, and it's a necessary one. But we need to make sure, when we enjoy the works of tricksters that we aren't having a laugh at other people's expenses. When we look at trickster tales, we should consider their motivation at all steps of the story, not just how they talked their way out of consequences. And if you want to take up the mask of the Fool this April, remember to stay true to the trickster's purpose.
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