Towel Day is celebrated every year on 25 May as a

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...

to the author

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

by his fans. On this day, fans openly carry a

towel A towel () is a piece of absorption (chemistry), absorbent cloth or paper used for drying or wiping a surface. Towels draw moisture through direct contact. Bathing towels and hand towels are usually made of cotton, linen, bamboo and Microfiber, ...

with them, as described in Adams' ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...

'', to demonstrate their appreciation for the books and the author. The commemoration was first held 25 May 2001, two weeks after Adams' death on 11 May.

Origin

The importance of the towel was introduced in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' original radio series in 1978. The follow-up book explained the importance of towels in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' universe in Chapter 3, using much of the same wording as the original radio series: The original article that began Towel Day was posted by a D. Clyde Williamson, a contributor at "System Toolbox", a short-lived System Administration website affiliated with "Binary Freedom", an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

forum. To promote the group's proposed memorial event, System Toolbox's site director, Chris Campbell, created the towelday.org

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

. The idea was shared by

Slashdot ''Slashdot'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''/.'') is a social news website that originally billed itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories on science, technology, and politics that are submitted and evaluated by site ...

in a post that reminded people to bring their towels on May 25. Towel Day was an immediate success among fans and many people sent in pictures of themselves with their towels. Campbell ran the Towel Day website for several years before transferring it. It is now maintained by an anonymous group of Douglas Adams' fans.

Recognition

Several news sources around the world have mentioned Towel Day, including the Norwegian newspaper ''

Aftenposten (; ; stylized as in the masthead) is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation as well as Norway's newspaper of record. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 daily copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen ...

'' and the television news show '' NRK Nyheter'', and

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In May 2010, an

online petition An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. T ...

was created asking Google to recognize Towel Day with either a

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

or by returning search results in the

Vogon The Vogons are a fictional alien race from the planet Vogsphere in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''—initially a BBC Radio series by Douglas Adams—who are responsible for the destruction of the Earth, in order to facilitate an interga ...

language for a day. As of 10 September 2014, the petition had received 5,373 signatures; however, the petition website is now defunct. On 11 March 2013, Google published an official Doodle in recognition of what would have been Douglas Adams’ 61st birthday.

2010

In Canada, ''

Volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, Voltage#Galvani potential vs. electrochemical potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units, International System of Uni ...

'', a French/English television show, created a skit in which Towel Day was explained and featured. In

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, Radio City, a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

affiliated radio station, interviewed one of the organizers of Towel Day in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

to introduce their listeners to Towel Day. The interview was in Spanish and English.

2011

In the United Kingdom, Planet Rock aired an "Alternative Thought Of The Day" by David Haddock about Towel Day and Siren FM broadcast "Dean Wilkinson & the Importance of International Towel Day".

2012

In January 2012, ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' listed Towel Day as one of ten cult literary traditions.

2013

In recognition of Towel Day, the Norwegian

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

company Kolumbus gave away a limited number of special towels to customers. Each towel contained an

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

chip that allows a free ride on their buses and boats. In

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, the

Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He became the breakout cast member in the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1976), where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment b ...

branch of the District of Columbia Public Library offered prizes for those who wore a towel to the library on Towel Day.

2015

On Towel Day 2015, Italian astronaut

Samantha Cristoforetti Samantha Cristoforetti (; born 26 April 1977) is an Italian European Astronaut Corps, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, former Italian Air Force pilot and engineer. She is the second of two Women in space, women sent into space by ESA and ...

sent a "Towel Day greeting" and read aloud a sample from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'' from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

2016

Towel Day was celebrated by Briton

Tim Peake Major (United Kingdom), Major Timothy Nigel Peake (born 7 April 1972) is a retired British European Space Agency astronaut, Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), Army Air Corps officer and author. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second a ...

on the

. As Towel Day 2016 fell during the RIPE 72 meeting, the

RIPE NCC RIPE NCC (''Réseaux IP Européens'' Network Coordination Centre) is the regional Internet registry (RIR) for Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with a branch office in Dubai, U ...

distributed a beach towel printed with an IPv6 subnet chart (from their training materials).

2019

In the year 2019, Towel Day was celebrated by Don't Panic Labs in Nebraska, U.S., by organizing a donation drive called the "Towel Day Drive" where people were asked to donate new or extremely gently used towels to the "People's City Mission". Many people also donated money to buy towels.

References

External links

Towel Day - Celebrating the life and work of Douglas Adams

Towel Day
on

h2g2 The h2g2 website is a British-based collaborative online encyclopedia project. It describes itself as "an unconventional guide to life, the universe, and everything", in the spirit of the fictional publication ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the ...

Fan proposing the idea of making Towel Day an annual event
on

Television Skit for Towel Day (French/English)

Interview by Radio City Ecuador for Towel Day 2010 (Spanish/English)
{{HitchhikerMiscellanea The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Science fiction fandom Radio fandom Literary fandom Unofficial observances May observances Recurring events established in 2001 Discordian holidays Towels es:Douglas Adams#El día de la toalla