May 4th isn’t just any other summer day. For a long time, May 4th has come to be known as Star Wars Day by fans all over the world. In honor of Star Wars Day 2021 coming soon, we’re going to dive into a little of the history behind the day!

The Origins

So the origins of May 4th being known as Star Wars Day essentially breaks down to the fact that fans often say “May the Fourth be with you”, which is a fun play on the infamous line from the films, “May the Force be with you”. 

May is also a notorious month for Star Wars movies as well! All the movies in the original and prequel trilogies were released in theaters in May, as well as Solo: A Star Wars Story. 

And three pretty important birthdays tied to those behind Star Wars fall in May too:

• George Lucas – May 14

• Peter Mayhew – May 19

• Christopher Lee – May 27

Star Wars Day stayed a very fan driven tradition for a long time! But the first official large-scale event that was organized happened on May 4, 2011. The Toronto Underground Cinema held a gathering where they screened the movies and a costume contest was held! Since then, Toronto Star Wars Day has happened every year (though it moved online during the pandemic).

Nowadays, Star Wars Day events are held all over. From events that are local to your city to friend’s getting together to do movie marathons on May 4, there’s usually something happening!  

From events being held in Disney Parks to the Star Wars website’s dedicated page to the day, both Disney and Lucasfilm get in on the day as well.

Past lightsaber meetups have taken place at Galaxy’s Edge in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, on Star Wars Day and throughout the year!

Intergalactic Facts About Star Wars Day

1. Fans have taken the long running pun of “May the Fourth be with you”one step further. May 5th has come to be known as “Revenge of the Fifth” in a nod to Episode III.

2. Back in 2019, the California Legislature held a vote to officially declare May 4th as Star Wars Day. The vote was held in recognition of Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge official opening. That’s pretty cool, especially considering Star Wars Day has been a fan-led premise!

3. Star Wars Celebration II was held in 2002 from May 3-5.

4. Star Wars might take place in a galaxy far, far away, but we do have some pretty awesome space-related things going on in our world too! Back in 2015, astronauts on the ISS shared a special tweet in honor of Star Wars Day.

Just watching @starwars. In space. No big deal. #StarWarsDay #Maythe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/iG7Pn0Fvj6

— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) May 4, 2015

Star Wars Day 2021 Events

Now what’s going on this May 4th? So far, the premiere of the next animated Star Wars series is coming!

Originally announced in December 2020, The Bad Batch series is set to kick off with a 70-minute premiere on Star Wars Day. New episodes will follow every Friday starting on May 7.

One event being held by the Galaxy’s Edge Discord server is a Lightsaber Meetup. It’ll take place on May 4, 2021 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at 7:45 PM. The meetup will be the chance to meet up for some lightsaber pics as a group, similar to past meetups of the same kind. The Facebook event info can be found here.

 Do you have any plans for Star Wars Day 2021? Share what you’re planning on doing with us!