It did not start long or in a galaxy very, very distant, but every May 4 it seems that images, memes and promotional offers related to “Star Wars” generate an unavoidable force of gravity.
On May 4 – or “May the 4th”, as fans say, in a word game with the word “Force” (force) and “Fourth” (the fourth) – it has evolved over the years until it becomes the day of Star Wars, an informal festival that celebrates the epic series of spaces of the space and the surrounding franchise.
What is Star Wars day?
Star Wars’s day was created by fans in a cunning word game with one of the most popular phrases of the films: “That the force accompanies you” (“May the force be with you”, in English), and that with respect to May 4 it would be expressed: “May the 4th be with you.”
It is not an official holiday, but it has become so well known that even the US former president Joe Biden commemorated him last year when the actor of “Star Wars” Mark Hamill visited the White House a day before.
“I think it is a very ingenious way for fans to celebrate their passion and love for ‘Star Wars’ once a year,” said Steve Sansweet, founder and executive president of Rancho Obi-Wan, a non-profit museum in California that has the largest collection in the world of “Star Wars” memories.
How did it start?
The phrase “that on May 4 accompanies you” was used by fans in the years after the premiere of the first film in 1977, and even appeared in a British political announcement in 1979 that celebrated the electoral victory of Margaret Thatcher on May 4 of that year, with which she became Prime Minister.
For some fans, the official Star Wars Day is May 25, the date of the premiere of the first film. The Los Angeles Municipal Council even declared that this date was Star Wars Day in 2007, although in 2019 the California Congress voted to designate May 4 as Star Wars Day.
How has it spread?
On May 4 it became informally popular among fans through private jokes shared on social networks and films projections to commemorate the occasion. In the long run, some companies joined the fun: various brands, including Nissan and Jameson Whiskey, released advertisements or made publications in social networks about it.
Disney, which Lucasfilm acquired in 2012, adopted the day so that it was a way to further promote the franchise with goods, special projections and other events related to the brand.
Not all “Star Wars” fans are excited about how generalized the joke that used to be marginal. Chris Taylor, Senior Editor of Mashable and author of the book “How Star Wars Conquered The Universe” (“How Star Wars conquered the universe”), a “Grinch of May 4”, partly due to its commercialization, becomes defined.
“I love a good double -meaning joke as much as anyone, but my God, you can take it too far,” Taylor said.
In western Germany, a Protestant congregation celebrated a thematic service of Star Wars on Sunday, the German news agency DPA reported. Pastor Samuel Dörr and some of his parishioners wore costumes and decorated his church in Bensberg.
This year how is it celebrated?
This year the day is being held on small and large scale. Disney+ launches the new series “Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld” on the date, and coincides with the beginning of the second season of another series of the franchise, “Andor”.
It also follows the announcement that a new independent delivery of “Star Wars”, starring Ryan Gosling, will premiere in 2027.
Disney marks the day with the launch of new “Star Wars” products, ranging from light sabable sets to jewelry.
Most of the major baseball teams commemorated the day in recent years with special events that incorporate “Star Wars” characters. For example, the San Francisco giants sold special tickets for Saturday game that included a figure of the pitcher Logan Webb in the role of “Obi-Webb Kenobi.”
It is difficult to find a place in the United States where there are no celebrations for May 4, from bakeries that serve cookies with the theme of “Star Wars” to concerts presented by the memorable scores of the films.
It is a celebration throughout the town of New Hope, Pennsylvania, which shares its name with the subtitle of the first “Star Wars” film. The town, of approximately 2,600 inhabitants and located 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the northeast of Philadelphia, plans to have characters disguised throughout the town, and the restaurants will serve dishes and drinks with themes of the series, as a “iodarite”.
“I always joked and wished the people: ‘May May 4 accompany you’ … but take it to this level, I have definitely increased my passion for the knowledge of ‘Star Wars,” said Michael Sklar, president of the New Hope Metropolitan Area, president of the New Hope Metropolitan Area.
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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.
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