Happy Star Wars Day! May The Fourth Be With You.

Happy Star Wars Day!

Star Wars fans all around the world have set aside May Fourth to honor the series because of the date’s easy juxtaposition with the most famous phrase from the iconic sci-fi films. So if you happen by an unusual amount of people wearing Boba Fett t-shirts, carrying a lightsabers, or sporting a pair of furry Wookie slippers on the way to work, be sure to wish them a good day.

However, today should not be confused with May 25, which is the official observance of Geek Pride Day. That commemorates the day in 1977 when Star Wars was first released into theaters and forever changed the lanscape of big screen science fiction. 

May 25th is also known as Towel Day, in remembrance of Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, who passed away in 2001 and fans carry a towel because of the importance of the towel in the series.

“May 4 is called Star Wars Day because of the popularity of a common pun spoken on this day. Since the phrase ‘May The Force Be With You’ is a famous quote often spoken in the Star Wars films, fans commonly say ‘May the fourth be with you’ on this day. Current day Star Wars fans were not the first to introduce the line ‘May the fourth be with you’: when Margaret Thatcher was elected Britain’s first female Prime Minister on May 4, 1979, her party placed an advertisement in The London Evening News that said ‘May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.’ This reading of the line has also been recorded in the UN Parliament’s Hansard.”

“In a 2005 interview on German news TV channel N24, George Lucas was asked to say the famous sentence ‘May the Force be with you.’ The interpreter simultaneously interpreted the sentence into German as Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen (‘We shall be with you on May 4’). This was captured by TV Total and aired on May 18, 2005.”

“In 2011, the first organized celebration of Star Wars Day took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Toronto Underground Cinema. Festivities included an Original Trilogy Trivia Game Show; a costume contest with celebrity judges; and the web’s best tribute films, mash-ups, parodies, and remixes on the big screen. The second annual edition is scheduled to take place on Friday, May 4, 2012.”