The Rapture may not have seemed like a joking matter or much of a reason to have a party time for the people who believed it would happen back in 2011, and it’s easy understand why. Imagine believing that 200 million people all over the globe suddenly get sucked up into the sky without a word of warning, amid horrific earthquakes of unprecedented magnitude and relentless plagues–that’s kind of scary, isn’t it?
Luckily, the predictions turned out to be completely false. But why let the opportunity to celebrate not having been annihilated go to waste? If the survival of the human race is not an occasion for celebration, what is? So what are you waiting for? Time to throw a Rapture Day Party!
The History of Rapture Day
Billions of people the world over, mainly Christians, Muslims and Jews, believe that God will end the world one day; however, few have attempted to pinpoint exactly when that will happen. But in 2001, Christian radio host and then-president of the Family Radio Christian network, Harold Camping, announced that he had calculated the exact dates on which both the Rapture and Judgement Day would take place: May 11th and October 11th, respectively.
The 5 months between the Rapture and Judgement Day, Camping claimed, would be a time of destruction, whereupon those who had not been saved would be subjected to fire, brimstone and plagues that would kill millions daily, culminating in the complete and utter destruction of our planet.
However, most people, including most Christians, rejected these predictions from the get-go, saying the Christian radio host who made them had no way of knowing the exact dates of either the Rapture or Judgement Day. And when the Rapture failed to happen on May 21st, 2011, Camping’s predictions became something of a worldwide joke, as did Camping himself, who was accused of wanting to make money off of his frightened followers. One retired subway worker, for example, spent $140,000 of his retirement on billboards to spread the news after having become infatuated with Camping’s teachings. On a much more positive note, however, Rapture Day has since become a popular party date, with a suffering a killer hangover the closest anyone comes to witnessing the end of the world.
How to Celebrate Rapture Day
The best way to celebrate rapture day is to party like the world really is about to end. You could start organizing your party by making a list of the foods you’d stock up on if the world really was ending. And since the world would be ending anyways, counting calories would be pointless, so if you love Twinkies, potato chips or gummy bears of all shapes and sizes, take advantage of this opportunity to eat as much of your favourite junk food as you want. Another absolute necessity for an unforgettable party is the perfect soundtrack.
The apocalypse has been a relatively popular theme in music for hundreds of years, so there are plenty of pieces to choose from, from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), in which the composer dramatically dismantles the entire world he created, to more contemporary, to Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” to The Kelly Family’s “Another World”, to Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends”, to name but a few.
