May the Fourth Be With You – Star Wars Day Explained

Despite all of the excitement around 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'--which had the 2nd biggest opening of all time--you are certain to see "Happy Star Wars Day" and "May the Fourth Be With You" on your social media feeds today. Is today the anniversary of 'Star Wars'?

Nope.

May 4th was picked as Star Wars Day nearly twenty years ago because is sounds a lot like the Jedi expression "May the Force be with you." The original meme was "May the 4th be with you," but it has since evolved into a larger celebration of the films called "Star Wars Day."

Star Wars really does have a significant anniversary in May though. On May 25th, George Lucas' epic space saga celebrates the 38th anniversary of its release. 38 glorious years of Star Wars.

I love 'Star Wars.' My mom and dad took me to see the very first one in the theater when I was only six months old--mom says I didn't make a peep during the movie. I remember seeing 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi' in theaters in the 80's, I was swept up in the excitement of the prequel trilogy that kicked off in 1999, and I am becoming more and more excited about 'Episode 7' due this Christmas.

And of course my kids have a ton of 'Star Wars' toys including a robotic R2-D2 that's nearly as big as Jack.

Happy Star Wars Day! May the Fourth be with you.

And beware the Revenge of the Fifth.