Geek Pride Day
| Geek Pride Day | |
|---|---|
| Observed by | Geeks worldwide |
| Type | Cultural |
| Significance | Non-denominational holiday celebrating geek culture |
| Celebrations | Role-playing games, parades, cosplay |
| Date | May 25 |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Nerd, geek, science fiction |
Geek Pride Day is an initiative to promote geek culture, celebrated annually on 25 May.[1] The date was chosen as to commemorate the 1977 release of Star Wars,[1] but shares the same date as two other similar fan "holidays": Towel Day, for fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams, and the Glorious 25th of May for fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
The initiative originated in Spain in 2006 as (Spanish: Día del orgullo friki) and spread around the world via the Internet.
While other events with Pride in them refer to the GLBT community and there geeks that identify as GLBT, Geek Pride Day caters to all people who are into geek culture regardless of orientation.
Origins
Tim McEachern organized unconnected events called Geek Pride Festival and/or Geek Pride Day 1998 to 2000 at a bar in Albany, New York, which are sometimes seen as a prelude to Geek Pride Day.
In 2006, the Spanish blogger Germán Martínez known online as señor Buebo organized the first celebration, the day was celebrated for the first time in Spain and on the Internet, drawing attention from mainstream media.[2][3][4] The biggest concentration took place in Madrid, where 300 Geeks demonstrated their pride together with a human Pac-Man. A manifesto was created to celebrate the first Geek Pride Day, which included a list of the basic rights and responsibilities of geeks.[5]
2008
In 2008, Geek Pride Day was officially celebrated in the U.S., where it was heralded by numerous bloggers, coalescing around the launch of the Geek Pride Day website. Math author, Euler Book Prize winner, and geek blogger John Derbyshire not only did a shout out, but announced [6] that he would be appearing in the Fifth Avenue parade, dressed as number 57, on the prime number float - prompting some bloggers to say they'd be looking for him.
Continued spread
By 2009, acknowledgment of the day had reached the Science Channel, with special programming on 25 May to celebrate and events took place to commemorate the day in Ottawa, home to the Canada Science and Technology Museum and a notable research centre in Canada. While in 2010 the festival spread further, taking in cities as diverse as Halifax, Nova Scotia; Budapest, Hungary; Tel Aviv, Israel; Timişoara, Romania and San Diego, California. In 2013, a Geek Pride parade was held in Gothenburg, Sweden, and it was decided that it would be an annual event.
In 2013, and annually since, a Meetup group in the New York City suburbs called Westchester Geeks has held a Geek Pride Day celebration on or around May 25.
See also
References
- 1 2 "The Conversation: Celebrating Your Inner Geek". ABC News. May 25, 2010.
- ↑ Salas, Javier (2006-05-26). "Comecocos y mangas toman la calle: la revancha de los frikis (Spanish)". Telecinco. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2006-05-26.
- ↑ Perez, Javier (2006-05-26). "Orgullo friki (Spanish)". El Mundo. Retrieved 2005-05-26.
- ↑ Ramos, David (2006-05-25). "25 de mayo: Día del Orgullo Friki". 20minutos. Retrieved 2005-05-25.
- ↑ La Revista (2006-05-25). "25 de mayo: Día del Orgullo Friki". 20minutos.es. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
- ↑ ""Hug a Geek", The Corner, Thursday May 22, 2008, 8:44 am". Corner.nationalreview.com. 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
External links
- Orgullofriki.com (Spanish)