May the Fourth Be with you... Always

– May 4, 2011Posted in: Holidays

Happy STAR WARS day from your friends at The ComicBook Nerd!

History of Star Wars Day per WIKI:

This day is considered an unofficial holiday by Star Wars fans to celebrate Star Wars culture and remember the films.

May 4 is called Star Wars Day (also sometimes known as Luke Skywalker 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. It should be noted that 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, it happened on the Fourth of May 1979. This led her party to place an advertisement in The London Evening News, which said: “May The Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations.”

This reading of the line has also been recorded in the UK parliament’s Hansard.

Also, in a 2005 interview on German news TV channel N24, George Lucas was asked to say his famous sentence, “May the Force be with you.” The translator simultaneously translated to German: “Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen” (We shall be with you on May 4). This was captured by comedy show TV Total and aired on May 18, 2005. However, the “May the 4th be with you” joke was already a known yearly joke to many before 2005.

Despite efforts to start a Jediism Church with May 4 as its Star Wars Day, and despite the Catholic origin of the phrase, as of 4 May 2010 there is no religion-supporting organization that promotes May 4 as Star Wars Day apart from the Church of Jediism.

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About Damian

A native of Glastonbury, Connecticut, Damian has lived in Los Angeles for more than four years. Having worked in front of, behind, and above the camera, he has become a “Jack of All Trades” in the entertainment biz. Damian has collected comic books since he was five years old, dressed up as super-heroes since he was six, and occasionally gets paid by companies to portray them at conventions across the country. More important, he uses his awesome powers for good. Several times a year he collects donations from movie studios, toy companies, and comic book shops, so he can don the tights and cape of Superman for visits to children’s hospitals and the City of Hope’s annual cancer survivors picnic. Damian is currently working on several ongoing web series. In his spare time he enjoys slaying damsels and saving dragons in distress!