A child wearing a Chewbacca mask attends a Star Wars exhibition in Chile, on the eve of May 4th, known as Star Wars Day. AP
A child wearing a Chewbacca mask attends a Star Wars exhibition in Chile, on the eve of May 4th, known as Star Wars Day. AP
A child wearing a Chewbacca mask attends a Star Wars exhibition in Chile, on the eve of May 4th, known as Star Wars Day. AP
A child wearing a Chewbacca mask attends a Star Wars exhibition in Chile, on the eve of May 4th, known as Star Wars Day. AP

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May the fourth be with you: What is Star Wars Day and how did it start?

It's a play on one of the franchise's most famous phrases, but its origins date back far, far away from social media

David Tusing
Sophie Prideaux
Abu Dhabi

May 04, 2025

  • English
  • Arabic

It might just feel like any other Thursday, but today is a truly important day in certain cultural circles. It is May 4 – also known as Star Wars Day.

For the uninitiated, fans of George Lucas’s sci-fi franchise have officially adopted May 4 as their holiday, thanks to a play on one of the most famous lines from the films: “May the force be with you.”

In recent years, Yoda-themed memes have been shared across social media and the #StarWarsDay hashtag trends each May 4, but its origins date back far, far away from the days of Twitter and Instagram.

Where did it all begin?

A Star Wars fan at a fan convention called the Star Wars Celebration Japan in Chiba, near Tokyo. AP
A Star Wars fan at a fan convention called the Star Wars Celebration Japan in Chiba, near Tokyo. AP

While it isn't clear exactly when people started to celebrate May 4 as Star Wars Day, newspaper records trace the first use of "May the Fourth Be With You" back to 1979. The phrase was used in an advertisement placed by the Conservative Party in the London Evening News, congratulating Margaret Thatcher on her ascendance to prime minister. "May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations," the advertisement read.

In the years that followed, the pun continued to make its way into politics and popular culture, and in 2008, the first official Facebook group was created to mark the day, although then, it was called Luke Skywalker Day.

Three years later, the first official in-person celebration of Star Wars Day took place in Toronto, Canada, featuring trivia quizzes, game shows, screenings and a costume competition.

Runners at a Star Wars Run event in Taiwan to mark Star Wars Day. AP
Runners at a Star Wars Run event in Taiwan to mark Star Wars Day. AP

In 2013, after Disney purchased Lucasfilm, Star Wars Day was fully embraced and a number of special events were held at Disneyland and Walt Disney World to mark the occasion.

However, for some fans, the official Star Wars Day comes on May 25, the date of the first film's release. The Los Angeles City Council even declared the date to be Star Wars Day in 2007, although the California Legislature voted in 2019 to designate May 4 as Star Wars Day.

How is Star Wars Day being celebrated?

Fans at a Star Wars Run in Taiwan to mark Star Wars Day. AP
Fans at a Star Wars Run in Taiwan to mark Star Wars Day. AP

The day is being celebrated on a large and small scale this year. Disney+ is launching the new series Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld on the date, and it comes as the second season gets underway for another franchise series, Andor.

A new stand-alone film installment starring Ryan Gosling, and scheduled to be released in 2027, was also recently announced.

Disney, which owns the Star Wars franchise, usually marks the day with the launch of new merchandise, ranging from lightsaber sets to jewellery.

In New Hope, Pennsylvania, which shares its name with the subtitle of the first Star Wars film, there are plans to have costumed characters throughout town with restaurants serving themed items such as a “YodaRita".

A version of this story was first published on May 4, 2023

On Women's Day
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

Bloomberg

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