Towel Day celebrates the work of Douglas Adams, but most specifically the novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and its main character, Arthur Dent.Towel Day is just what any good traveler needs when Earth is about to be demolished in favor of a hyperspace bypass and the Bugblatter Beast of Traal is ready to pounce on a meatsack like you.If you have no idea what any of that means, don’t panic.Simply affix a Babel fish to your auditory receptor.Then you will understand why fans of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” sci-fi novel series and geekdom in general are sporting their towels this May 25.
Towel Day – the what and the why
Towel Day deserves an interstellar hitchhiker’s full attention because nothing – not even payday loans – are so versatile and valuable.From Chapter 3 of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (courtesy of Wired), Douglas Adams clues us in:
“You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini-raft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”
Aside from such practical value, having a towel on Towel Day (or any day, really) is also a psychological balm.People who see you with a towel will know your handle and assume that you are an old hand with winging it across the Horsehead Nebula.Not only do you know why 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything, but you have something to sop up your space sweat.
What’s so special about May 25 for Towel Day?
”Hitchhiker’s Guide” author Douglas Adams left Earth for Vogsphere on May 11, 2001.A fortnight later, “Hitchhiker” fans gathered to share a long, dark tea time of the soul on what would become Towel Day.According to Wired, a fan named D. Clyde Williamson proposed the commemorative holiday.As Williamson elucidated in his online blog, “Douglas Adams will be missed by his fans worldwide. So that all his fans everywhere can pay tribute to this genius, I propose that two weeks after his passing (May 25, 2001) be marked as ‘Towel Day’”.
So there you have it.If you want to know more about Towel Day, there’s a web site for that at Towelday.org, but if you really want to be an interstellar hitchhiker, you’ll need the 42 Utility Towel that ThinkGeek is selling.
Citations
Wired
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/05/dont-panic-its-towel-day/
ThinkGeek
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/8e20/
Towelday.org
http://towelday.org/
