You may have seen people posting ‘May the fourth be with you’, but where did it start and what does it mean?
What is Star Wars Day?
The fourth of May is often referred to as Star Wars Day, based on the pun ‘May the fourth be with you’. This play on the famous line from the space opera franchise has, over the years, transformed from something quoted by politicians, to 2008 Facebook groups, to nowadays being an official day where Disney and Lucasfilm put on events celebrating the movies.
Origin of the term
Some credit the first public use of the pun to be congratulating British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as it was the day after she was elected in 1979. It was then used in the TV show Count Duckula in 1988. It cropped up a couple of times in the 90s, including in the 1999 book The Science of Star Wars, which examined the science behind the popular sci-fi movies.
For those of you who weren’t there, early Facebook was an interesting place. Poking your friends and inviting them to groups with names based on now ancient memes, the first group honouring Star Wars Day surfaced in 2008. The group Luke Skywalker Day was definitely not the only one to celebrate the punny holiday, but was at least one of the first.
In 2011, the Toronto Underground Cinema held the first organised event for the day, with many different activities and showings of the movies. After Disney acquired Lucasfilm in late 2012, celebrations of the day started being held in Disneyland parks around the world. It was also the date in 2020 that the finale of The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were made available on Disney+.
Make it a trilogy
In keeping with the style of the franchise, you can make a trilogy out of the days. Start with ‘May the fourth be with you’, followed by ‘Revenge of the fifth’, then finally the ‘Return of the sixth’. You could pick one of the trilogies and watch an episode each night.
Geek Pride Day
There was a previous attempt to make May 25th Star Wars Day, as it was this date in 1977 that the first film was released. This didn’t gain as much traction as the Star Wars Day based on the pun. But it has since become associated with a bunch of other geeky franchises.
Geek Pride Day, celebrated on May 25th, started in Spain in 2006 and was spread via the internet. It pulls together the original release date of Star Wars, a holiday celebrated in the lore of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, and Towel Day. The latter is when fans of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy celebrate the works of Douglas Adams by wearing a towel over their shoulder.
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