May the Fourth - Star Wars Day, the pun holiday born from a London Evening News typo

Star Wars Day on May 4 ("May the Fourth Be With You") is the world's biggest franchise-anchored fan holiday. It began as a date-pun circulated by British tabloids in 1979 and was adopted as a global marketing event by Lucasfilm and Disney in 2013.

The one-line summary

A franchise-anchored fan holiday on May 4, anchored on a date-pun that circulated in British tabloids in 1979 (coincidentally one day after Margaret Thatcher took office as Conservative leader). Adopted globally by Lucasfilm and Disney in 2013 as a major marketing and merchandising event.

Origin: the London Evening News and 1979

The earliest documented use of "May the Fourth" as a Star Wars pun appears in the London Evening News on 4 May 1979. The full-page congratulatory ad took out by the Conservative Party read, in classic 1970s tabloid style, "May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie" - celebrating Margaret Thatcher's election as Conservative Party leader the previous day. The Star Wars connection was deliberate: Star Wars (1977) was at the height of its cultural moment in 1979, with The Empire Strikes Back in production and merchandise saturating British toy shops. The pun landed so cleanly that it spread quickly through the British tabloid ecosystem before crossing the Atlantic in the early 1980s.

Reagan, the 1980s, and fandom

A second high-profile use of the pun came in 1983, when the Reagan White House was asked about the president's Strategic Defense Initiative (dubbed "Star Wars" by critics). White House chief of staff James Baker, addressing the press, said the programme would survive the budget debate, "so that we can continue to uphold the principle of May the Force Be With You." The remark made the front pages and cemented the pun in US political and pop culture. Through the late 1980s and 1990s, "May the Fourth" circulated in fanzines, Star Wars-themed mail-order newsletters, and pre-internet mailing lists as an inside reference. It was not yet an organised holiday.

The fan era, 2000-2012

Through the 2000s, organised fan events started to schedule May 4 as a Star Wars Day without official sanction. Comic book stores hosted themed sales; cosplay groups gathered in US and UK city centres; The Big Bang Theory and other US sitcoms referenced the day in on-screen dialogue. The first major institutional recognition came on 4 May 2011, when the Toronto City Council, alongside its mayor Rob Ford, declared Star Wars Day as a civic observance, citing the franchise's economic contribution through Toronto filming locations. Boston, Berlin, and other major cities issued similar declarations or proclamations in the same year.

Lucasfilm and Disney take it over

Disney acquired Lucasfilm in late 2012, taking ownership of the Star Wars franchise. From 2013 onward, Lucasfilm and parent company Disney treated May 4 as a brand-building priority. The 2013 launch season for Star Wars Rebels; the 2014 build-up to The Force Awakens; and the 2018-2023 franchise expansion (The Mandalorian, Andor, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett) all used May 4 as a tentpole marketing moment. Disney+, launched in late 2019, has used May 4 as a showcase for new Star Wars content releases. Coordinated global retail promotions - LEGO sets, Hallmark ornaments, Funko POPs, Hot Topic apparel, comic-book reprints - all roll out on or near May 4.

How it is observed

For fans: cosplay events, light-sabre (lightsaber) choreographed performances, charity screenings, marathon viewings (the original trilogy in order, or chronological order through the Skywalker saga), tabletop gaming nights (Star Wars: Legion, X-Wing, the Edge of the Empire RPG), and gathering at film landmarks (the unfinished Death Star in the Tunisian desert, the site of the Yavin 4 temple in Tikal, Guatemala). For retailers: themed product launches, limited-edition collectibles, and 24-hour flash sales through online and brick-and-mortar channels. For schools and libraries: Star Wars-themed reading programs, sci-fi writing workshops, and creator panels. The day is also used for charity events, including the long-running Star Wars Runs that benefit children's hospitals and education nonprofits.

Global reach

May the Fourth is observed worldwide. Fan-built events in major cities include cosplay parades in Tokyo's Akihabara, marching bands performing the Imperial March in Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, light-sabre vigils at the Footlights in Cambridge (where Star Wars screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan was a member), charity light-sabre training sessions in Sydney's Darling Harbour, and pop-up cantina bars in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Lucasfilm's official channels run coordinated content in 12+ languages on the day, with franchise stars (Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, Pedro Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Katee Sackhoff, Temuera Morrison) contributing video greetings.

Secondary holidays: May 5 and beyond

The natural extension of Star Wars Day's date-pun has generated a small chain of secondary fan holidays. May 5 ("Revenge of the Fifth") is the established companion day, framed by retailers and fans as a celebration of the franchise's antagonists - the Sith, the Empire, the First Order, and a popular occasion for Sith-costume cosplay. Some retailers run dedicated Revenge of the Fifth sales featuring dark-side merchandise and lightsabers with red blades. May 6 ("Return of the Sixth") is, inevitably, a tongue-in-cheek extension; the chain weakens quickly past that point and is not formally observed.

May the Fourth by the numbers

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Star Wars Day": en.wikipedia.org
• StarWars.com (Lucasfilm), official Star Wars Day: starwars.com
• Snopes, "Is Star Wars Day celebrated as a national holiday?": snopes.com