May the Fourth: Star Wars Day’s political origins and vocal opponents

Prepare yourselves, social media users: your Twitter feed, Facebook timeline and pretty much every interaction you have with a fan of Star Wars on May 4 will likely begin with the same greeting: “May the Fourth be with you.”

A play on the famous farewell of Jedis (“may the Force be with you”), May 4 has now come to be unofficially recognized by fans as Star Wars Day. Some say that the origin of the day is loosely tied to the election of Margaret Thatcher as the U.K. Prime Minister. In a document about the making of The Empire Strikes Back for the Lucasfilm archives, Nerdvana reports, the greeting is said to have been used in a 1979 newspaper ad that congratulated Thatcher on her election win on May 4:

“May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations.”

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Fans will be celebrating with movie marathons and parties around the world, and corporations have started to cash in on the oronym, too. Disney, which recently acquired the rights to the Star Wars films and plans on releasing five new films in five years, will be celebrating by hosting a Star Wars Day celebration at Disney Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World Resort. LEGO also hopped on the bandwagon by releasing its latest iOS game, LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, on May 3, ahead of Star Wars Day.

But there’s one group that just refuses to get into the jovial spirit of Star Wars Day. An attack ad, which encourages people to stop supporting the Rebel Alliance, has been released by supporters of The Galactic Empire:

Perhaps the Empire and their Sith buddies will opt instead to celebrate Cinco De Mayo, which will also be taking place this weekend.

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