Russian region bans Halloween as harmful to kids

Friday, October 30th, 2015

Officials in the Russian region of Arkhangelsk have banned Halloween being celebrated at local schools.

The Education Ministry in the region in north-western Russia stated that Halloween is “incoherent to basic traditional values and causes a negative influence on fragile minds”.

Russians began – unofficially – celebrating Halloween after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as Western influences became more acceptable.

However, officials remain suspicious of the holiday, stating that it turns young people into “extremists” and that Halloween is “propaganda of the cult of death”.

Earlier this month, the Russian Orthodox Church in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region called on local authorities to ban Halloween.

Priest Maxim Zolotukhin told local television that children may get depressed after Halloween because they do not understand the difference between make-believe and reality, and so evil will enter their souls.

Two years ago, regional legislators in Siberia’s Omsk region banned Halloween celebrations in all schools, saying Russian children had to be protected from “dangerous and morally corrupt US cultural influence”.

Other Russian officials have called for the banning of zombie and monster costumes from toy stores, citing harm to children.

In 2013, St Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov ordered police to break up a Halloween celebration in a park in the city’s Kupchino district.

After he had broken up the celebrations, which included singing, dancing and pumpkin-carving, Milonov wrote on his blog: “We have managed to stop the witches’ orgy . . . . We are defending the cross.”

Sources