Día del Orgullo Friki.

Postcard by hugandkissdesigns.com

1. Be a geek, no matter what.

The first Right from The Geek Manifesto, 2006

May is a busy month for geek observances - if they were actually statutory holidays, it would be a slow work month for the geek community.

May 2nd is Harry Potter Day, I think we're all familiar with May the 4th, which is also the anniversary of Loki's invasion of New York*, followed immediately by the Revenge of the 5th.  May the 25th is of course Towel Day, in honour of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, and the release date for Star Wars in 1977.  (It's also the Glorious 25th of May in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, not one of the better known references.)

There are other geek days throughout the year, but in terms of widely accepted ones, May seems to be leading the pack - Captain Picard Day, Frodo's Birthday and Star Wars Life Day just haven't gotten the same traction (June 16th, September 22nd and November 17th, respectively).**

However, the 25th actually has some global support to be the official holiday for nerds, fans and gamers as Geek Pride Day.

Geek Pride Day originated in Spain in 2006, complete with its own manifesto.***  Since then, it's garnered support in a widespread but apparently random selection of locations: such as Halifax, Budapest, Tel Aviv, San Diego, Gothenberg and Timişoara, but without having serious penetration into the geek community when compared to the other geek holidays.

It's not a bad choice for an official Pride Day for geeks, although obviously we wouldn't want to have to all go outside and have a parade - as per the second Geek Right from the manifesto, we have the right not to leave our homes.

And then, once we all agree on one big day, we try to get on the calendars - as per the 16th Geek Right and the 11th Responsibility from the manifesto, the first step in trying to take over the world.

- Sid

* Not sure that anyone is actually celebrating that one, but still.

** Oops, sorry, left out Pi Day, March 14th.

*** I actually have some minor issues with the 2006 manifesto - one of the stipulations is that you need to specialize, you can't be a generalized geek, and I actually take quite a bit of pride (no pun intended) in the broad range of my geek interests.