Russia’s War on Halloween

ABC News ^ | 10/26/12 | Kirit Radia

[marshmallow]

MOSCOW – While many in the U.S. bemoan what they see as a war on Christmas, in Russia a very different holiday is under attack: Halloween. Here some don’t see it as the holiday of tricks and treats, but as a sinister celebration that endangers children.

The latest salvo came from a group of Russian Orthodox Church leaders and a group of Cossacks, who are spearheading an effort to cancel Halloween celebrations in the region of Stavropol Krai, in southern Russia. A nearby region, Krasnodar Krai, recently prohibited celebrating the holiday in schools.

But why are the church and the Cossacks, the feared horseback defenders of the tsars, spooked by Halloween?

“I consider it absolutely unacceptable for certain reasons. Halloween celebrations have been imposed on us for 20 years, and we are perfectly aware of how it all looks: revelry, baboonish behavior and scoffing at death, and thus at the memory of our deceased loved ones, whom all of us certainly have” said Andrei Sakhno, a youth leader at the local diocese in Stavropol Krai, according to RIA Novosti.

[Salvation]

The children at our church dress up as a saint, have a children’s Mass and then a carnival and games afterward.

You might pass that idea along to your pastor.

[onedoug]

“Three more days till Halloween,
Halloween,
Halloween.
Three more days till Halloween,
Silver Shamrock.”