As a regular change.org petitioner and petitionee (someone who signs petitions), I believe that the number of updates is just as important if not more important than the total number of signatures. While I have seen signature counts reach over 2,000 signatures on random petitions within a week of their launch, many of these petitions don’t have regular updates and I strongly believe that campaigners regularly updating their supporters is what makes a change.org petition truly successful and more likely to win its goal.
While change.org is a private platform and does not qualify for UK government debates once a petition reaches 100,000 signatures, many campaigns with fewer than 2,000 signatures can and have won their goals without needing a debate needed in parliament. I know this because I personally declared victory on an unrelated petition back in February with exactly 1,569 signatures (though partly because there were other similar campaigns supporting the same cause) but my personal one had numerous updates.
All that said, let's dive back into my date obsession!
Definition of a “boring year”:
A boring year is defined a year where neither the Western nor Orthodox Easter dates fall within a week of their earliest/latest extremes (March 22-28, April 19-25 Julian/Gregorian) or hits the exact middle date (April 8th for Western or April 21st for Orthodox). The last such year was 2023 and the next will be 2028 - this definition is wholly based on calendrical interest and not due to the lack of recognition for Orthodox holidays which define “disaster years”.
Below are the precise definitions of problem/disaster/inconvenient years:
Definition of a “problem year”:
Any year with a five-week gap between the two Easter dates, the real “problem” really is the lack of recognition for Orthodox/Coptic holidays and NOT the date difference itself. The last such year was 2024 and the next will be 2027.
Definition of an “inconvenient year”
Any year where there is a one-week gap between Western and Orthodox Easter fits this criteria, there is no accompanying bank holiday but retailers have not completely cleared out Easter treats.
Definition of a true “disaster year” or “nightmare year”
Any year with a five-week gap AND no corresponding back holiday for UK Orthodox residents qualifies as a true “disaster year”, again it’s a nightmare/disaster ONLY because of the lack of recognition and not because of the date difference itself!
The date gap IS NOT the issue, the lack of recognition IS the real issue!
The true nightmare/disaster year scenario NEVER occurs in boring years because it requires Western Easter to fall near its earliest possible date (typically on March 25th or earlier) or Orthodox Easter to fall on either its second-latest or latest possible date (causing Orthodox Easter Monday to fall a week either side of the UK’s fixed Early May Bank Holiday).
The last such year this catastrophic was 2008 and the next will be 2035 if current retail habits and misaligned bank holidays continue (1818 and 2285 perfectly meet the “disaster year” criteria)!
The exact opposite of the “disaster year”:
When Orthodox Easter hits its earliest possible date or Western Easter hits its latest possible date (until the Julian calendar drifts too far apart of course), the exact opposite phenomenon of the “disaster year” phenomenon occurs and its almost certain the dates coincide, though of course they represent very different points within their respective date ranges for each tradition.
As an analogy, when lots of flights are cancelled due to fog, it’s not the fog itself that’s the problem (as it is perfectly safe for aircraft to fly in fog), it’s the lack of visibility on the runway that’s dangerous.
The same can be said about the date gap which itself is not the actual problem, rather it is in these years that the lack of recognition for Orthodox Easter really becomes obvious (such as Easter events in parks ending and retailers clearing out all Easter treats).
The lack of recognition is endemic in the UK and I myself first only learned about Orthodox Easter last year at the age of 32, which shows just how ignorant we are about another branch of our own primary religion. Forget missing “extreme dates”, I bet there are millions of UK residents who live their entire lives WITHOUT EVER KNOWING learning or hearing about Orthodox Easter!
As per a previous update, while my date fixation overall was a negative experience, it has made me learn about Orthodox Easter, the endemic lack of recognition and the existence of similar change.org petitions which is why it has become the major secondary goal of this entire campaign, the primary goal is of course still for a one-off official Gregorian March 22nd Easter some time in the next 40 years.
I am aware that change.org has a weekly update limit, so my next campaign update will either be on Reddit Day (25th May) or when we hit 366 signatures - my signature goals are incremental, so my next major goal after 366 will be 400, 500 and so forth though will still keep chipping in to promote the petition in the meantime.
Enjoy May!