Lilac Day aka "The Glorious 25th of May"
Towel Day
Lilac Day and Towel Day commemorate and celebrate the lives of Douglas Adams ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" => Towel Day) and Terry Pratchett (the "Discworld" series => The Glorious 25th of May), authors that reflected human nature back to us in ways both insanely entertaining and incredibly insightful.
I'm not enjoying writing this; I'm trying to find the balance between the joy they've both brought to me (and sooo many other people) and sadness that they are gone too soon.
Lilac Day (also known as The Glorious 25th of May) is a day that Pratchett fans wear lilac to honor all those who struggle with Alzheimer's disease and comes from the tradition, in Discworld, of a select few who wear the lilac to honor those that went beyond the call of duty/those that fell during the uprising of the Glorious Revolution of Treacle Road:
"But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions."
You want more?
" “No! Please! I'll tell you whatever you want to know!" the man yelled.
"Really?" said Vimes. "What's the orbital velocity of the moon?"
"What?"
"Oh, you'd like something simpler?” "
Hmmm... more?!?
" "That's a nice song," said young Sam, and Vimes remembered that he was hearing it for the first time.
"It's an old soldiers' song", he said.
"Really, sarge? But it's about angels."
Yes, thought Vimes, and it's amazing what bits those angels cause to rise up as the song progresses. It's a real soldiers' song: sentimental, with dirty bits.
"As I recall, they used to sing it after battles", he said. "I've seen old men cry when they sing it", he added.
"Why? It sounds cheerful."
They were remembering who they were not singing it with, thought Vimes. You'll learn. I know you will. "
Want to know more? Go! Read "Night Watch"! (wikilink) ... or any of Pratchett's novels (41 in the Discworld series alone)
Towel Day honors Douglas Adams and ALL of his creative endeavors; why the towel?
" A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. 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 vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft 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-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you — daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); 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. "
Still not clear?!? Go, find a copy and read it!!! (wikilink)
My favorite book by Douglas Adams, oddly, isn't one of his novels... it's "Last Chance to See", which is both a BBC radio series (1989) and a book (1990), co-written by Mark Carwardine. "Last Chance to See" is a personal exploration by the authors of the ecological issues that face endangered species around the world.
My favorite book by Terry Pratchett? Whichever one I happen to have on my nightstand! ;)
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