420 Enlightenment

As most of you proably already know, today was the official day for marijuana consumption, 420! And what a beautiful 420 it was. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, no clouds, and no wind. The perfect spring day in Saskatoon.

I don't smoke pot, but lots of my friends make a big deal out of this day, so I definatley knew about it. But this morning I woke up this morning with such bad stomach pains that I didn't even realize that it was 420. I stayed in bed hoping the pain would stop until as long as I possibly could, but at one I had to get up to go to a rehersal. I get ready, brush my hair, load up my bass in my car and head downtown to Knox United. As I get out of my car and unload my bass I small something very famliar. Pot.

Yup, it was definatley 420 because someone was celebrating very close by.

My rehersal finishes about an hour later, and the smell is gone now, and I continue on with my day. I go pick up my friend Jillian and we head down to the river to get a lemonade and go for a walk.

So we are walking with our delicious lemonade behind the bess hotel and sure enough, we can smell it again, and sure enough there is a man smoking a joint not to far away from us. We continue walking down by the river, the smell clears for about two minutes, and then we could smell it again. Keep on walking, air clears, and oh! There it is again! This happened throughout our entire walk. Which got us to talking.

Why is it called 420? Both of us have heard a countless number of lame myths about the origin of this uhh tradition? Holiday? Well, whatever. Anyway, we decided we would need to find this out in order to sleep well tonight. Maybe this will clear up a few questions you were having as well. So here ya go. Straight from one of the greatest sites on earth, Wikipedia:

"In American culture, the number 420 (pronounced four-twenty) relates to the consumption of cannabis and elements of its associated culture. The exact origin of the term is unknown. Marijuana users gather on April 20 every year to celebrate and consume marijuana.

Accepted origin
Snopes.com, High Times magazine, The Marijuana-Logues, and The Straight Dope claim that in the early 1970s, a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, California used to meet every day after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the water tower. One piece of evidence supporting an origin of the term from the time 4:20 is the fact that the number is always said "four twenty". This theory is also the most cited, and the most widely-accepted.

Other plausible suggested origins
*Marijuana grew wild on or near Highway 420 in Ontario in the 1960s. Whether or not this is true, Highway 420 is the location for an annual legalization protest every April 20th.
*At some American junior or senior high schools, "after-school detention" ends at 4:20. Thus 4:20 signifies the time when the detainees are finally free to smoke after the school day.
*The term could have possibly come from H. P. Lovecraft's "Within The Walls of Eryx" which contains the line, "My route must have been far from straight, for it seemed hours before I was free of the mirage-plant's pervasive influence... When I did get wholly clear I looked at my watch and was astonished to find that the time was only 4:20." This theory for the origin of 4:20 was first postulated on the official website for the rock band Tool.
*An ounce of marijuana going for $300, sold gram by gram (at $15), equals $420."

Interesting, hey? I was one of those people who thought the Bob Marley died on April 20th, but that isn't correct at all. Bob Marley actually died on May 11. Knowledge is power.

Hopefully that enlightened you as much as it did me, and whatever you chose to do today, cannabis related or not, it was definatley a beautiful day in Saskatoon.