Over 100,000 people have signed a petition to change the date of Halloween
29 July 2019, 12:47
Halloween on 31 October, Christmas Day on 25 December, New Years Day on 1 January – it's all getting a bit repetitive now, isn't it?
It's only July but some of us are already thinking about Halloween. The spooky holiday has long been celebrated on 31 October but a petition is proposing that Halloween should be celebrated on 26 October instead.
Now we know the internet and wild petitions pretty much go hand-in-hand. Just take a look at the Storm Area 51 petition that gained a huge amount of traction online and inspired some hilarious 'Storm Area 51' memes.
READ MORE: Area 51 memes are going viral thanks to a viral 'Storm Area 51' Facebook event
Well, this isn't much different. The Change.org petition was actually launched last year by the Halloween and Costume Association (HCA), which is dedicated to promoting and building the celebration of Halloween in the United States. However, for some reason, last week the petition signatures had a massive boost and it currently has over 100,000 signatures – just 50,000 short of HCA's 150,000 goal.
The HCA are claiming that they'd like to change the date of Halloween for safety reasons, especially for children. Apparently, if Halloween were on a Saturday more parents would be able to take their kids trick-or-treating in the daytime, rather than after school during the evening when it's dark and dangerous.
"Children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween," the petition claims, citing a statistic from Safe Kids Worldwide. "70% of parents don’t accompany their children trick-or-treating."
However, it's not all about the kids. What about all the adults that just live for Halloween? The petition also states that moving the holiday to Saturday would mean more time for adults to celebrate and throw Halloween parties.
The petition adds: "51 per cent of millennials say Halloween is their favourite holiday, why cram it into two rushed evening weekday hours when it deserves a full day!?"
As to be expected, the internet had something to say about the proposed changes to their beloved holiday.
me reading the petition of people trying to ‘move halloween’ to a different day than october 31st pic.twitter.com/FUglQ9mi8K
— 𝕭𝖚𝖓𝖓𝖞 𝕸𝖊𝖞𝖊𝖗 (@grav3yardgirl) July 26, 2019
So I’ve seen this petition going around saying Halloween should be made the last Saturday of October every year instead of the 31st. That is fucking stupid. There is too much historical (and spiritual) significance to just change the date to make it more convenient. pic.twitter.com/CsuDW5GAY8
— Molly Henery (@BloggingBanshee) July 27, 2019
There’s a petition to move Halloween so it’s safer for kids. If I said it once I said it a thousand times: pic.twitter.com/cveNlkvvPZ
— DLC Exclusive (@JustDev96) July 26, 2019
Petitions to move the date of Halloween is irrelevant. We all know Halloween is the entire month of October. Problem solved.
— Meagan Navarro (@HauntedMeg) July 25, 2019
There's a petition going on that apparently wants Halloween to be moved to a different date other than October 31st. That has got to be one of the stupidest petitions I've ever heard in my life.
— Animated Antic (Now on Patreon!) (@Animated_Antic) July 26, 2019
Apparently people are making petitions to move Halloween from October 31st to just whatever happens to be the last Saturday of October and if that happens I will RIOT
— 𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖘𝖑𝖚𝖙🧛🏻♀️ (@thatbitchmegara) July 26, 2019
It's not known how possible the change will be, though. If a petition receives 100,000 signatures within 30 days, it will be brought to the attention of the White House. But because the original petition was started last year, who knows how far it will go.
