»May the 4th be with you»
Inspired by the worldwide success and cultural movement that is the »Star Wars» universe, there is a fairly recent term, not even 20 years old, »jediism».
Jediism», the new religion
Jediism» is the concept that many people claim to follow, a particular religion, all based on the »Star Wars» movies.
It all started in New Zealand
It all started, or so it is believed, in 2001 between New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. An e-mail chain invited the geekiest fandom to fill in the religion box of the census with the words »Jedi» or »Jedi Knight».
Jedi formally existed
In that year, British, Australian and New Zealand citizens declared themselves followers of Jedi principles.
Many countries have joined
Since then, there have been many countries in which the same practice has been carried out, these are the countries where the jedi knights walk the streets officially.
New Zealand
The numbers in 2018 exceeded 20,000 jedi in the country that saw the birth of this phenomenon.
Australia
In 2016 there were 48,000 people who called themselves jedi knights.
England and Wales
In 2011 the number of people who declared themselves jedi knights was more than 170,000. In parallel, there are also approximately 6,000 people who entered the words Heavy Metal in the religion box.
Scotland
Nearly 15,000 people signed up as Jedi.
Irlanda
In a smaller way, in the Irish census there were about 2,000 people who called themselves jedi knights.
Canada
Although it gave a drop from previous years, there were still 9,000 Jedi remaining in Canada in 2011.