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Towel Day

Quick Facts

Douglas Adams fans observe Towel Day on May 25.

Local names

NameLanguage
Towel DayEnglish
Día de la toallaSpanish

Towel Day 2012

Friday, May 25, 2012

Towel Day 2013

Saturday, May 25, 2013
List of dates for other years

Towel Day on May 25 is an occasion for true Douglas Adams fans to stress the significance of towels. According to Adams's most famous work, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a towel is after all "about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have."

Don't forget to bring your towel on your intergalactic travels ©iStockphoto.com/fotovampir

What do people do?

Every year on May 25, "all life forms with towels" (towelday.org) are invited to mark Towel Day all across the galaxy. Amongst the most popular activities on this planet are public displays of towels, towel flash mobs, and towel competitions. In 2011, a "Towel Day march against Vogon violence" was held in Sao Paulo to protest against the Earth's destruction by aliens from Vogsphere to make way for an intergalactic highway. Less courageous individuals meet annually to recite from The Hitchhiker's Guide or watch the 2005 film version.

Public life

Towel Day is a global observance but it is not a public holiday anywhere in the known universe.

Background

Douglas Adams was an English writer and dramatist best known for his work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The science fiction comedy about the extraterrestrial adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox was originally broadcast as a radio play on BBC Radio 4 in 1978. Following the series' great success, Adams produced a set of 5 novels entitled "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - A Trilogy in Five parts".

Towel Day was first observed in 2001, two weeks after Adams's death on May 11, 2001.

Symbols

As the name of the observance suggests, large pieces of absorbent cloth most commonly made from cotton and colloquially called towels, are the most prominent symbols on Towel Day. Some are embellished with quotes from the book, such as "42" (the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything), "DON'T PANIC" (an instruction for the use of the fictional "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), and "Mostly harmless" (the entry for planet Earth in the guide).

Towel Day Observances

WeekdayDateYearNameHoliday typeWhere it is observed
SunMay 251980Towel DayWorldwide observance 
MonMay 251981Towel DayWorldwide observance 
TueMay 251982Towel DayWorldwide observance 
WedMay 251983Towel DayWorldwide observance 
FriMay 251984Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SatMay 251985Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SunMay 251986Towel DayWorldwide observance 
MonMay 251987Towel DayWorldwide observance 
WedMay 251988Towel DayWorldwide observance 
ThuMay 251989Towel DayWorldwide observance 
FriMay 251990Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SatMay 251991Towel DayWorldwide observance 
MonMay 251992Towel DayWorldwide observance 
TueMay 251993Towel DayWorldwide observance 
WedMay 251994Towel DayWorldwide observance 
ThuMay 251995Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SatMay 251996Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SunMay 251997Towel DayWorldwide observance 
MonMay 251998Towel DayWorldwide observance 
TueMay 251999Towel DayWorldwide observance 
ThuMay 252000Towel DayWorldwide observance 
FriMay 252001Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SatMay 252002Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SunMay 252003Towel DayWorldwide observance 
TueMay 252004Towel DayWorldwide observance 
WedMay 252005Towel DayWorldwide observance 
ThuMay 252006Towel DayWorldwide observance 
FriMay 252007Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SunMay 252008Towel DayWorldwide observance 
MonMay 252009Towel DayWorldwide observance 
TueMay 252010Towel DayWorldwide observance 
WedMay 252011Towel DayWorldwide observance 
FriMay 252012Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SatMay 252013Towel DayWorldwide observance 
SunMay 252014Towel DayWorldwide observance 
MonMay 252015Towel DayWorldwide observance 
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