Moscow bans "morally damaging" Halloween

by DanTheMan 2 Replies latest social current

• 

  DanTheMan

  Interesting...
  

  http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031031/od_uk_nm/oukoe_russia_halloween

  argh, the link isn't working...

  Oddly Enough - UK Reuters

  Moscow bans "morally damaging" Halloween 2 hours, 45 minutes ago MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow city authorities have told children not to celebrate Halloween because it is psychologically damaging and not in line with educational aims. Reuters Photo Moscow's education department sent a letter on Friday asking schools to ban the pagan festival, which it said was based on a "cult of death". Celebrations fall on the eve of the Western Christian All Saints' Day. "The religious elements of Halloween...go against the secular nature of education in state educational institutions and are destructive for the psychological, moral and spiritual well-being of the pupils," Alexander Gavrilov, spokesman for the department, told NTV television. Russia's Orthodox Church swiftly agreed there was no light-hearted way of looking at what is originally an American celebration where children dress up as witches and vampires and knock on front doors to ask for sweets. "The Church knows from its spiritual experience that you cannot associate with evil forces in jest," said Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin.
• 

  ScoobySnax

  "DOCUMENT NOT FOUND" Dan.........
• 

  DanTheMan

  French Catholics too...

  Oddly Enough - Reuters

  Fighting Halloween with Cake Fri Oct 31,10:27 AM ET Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo! PARIS (Reuters) - Saints instead of witches, pop songs instead of hooting owls, "Christian cake" instead of pumpkins -- France's Catholics are trying everything to fend off a Halloween celebration they say is an ungodly U.S. import. AP Photo Slideshow: Halloween As hordes of French children dress up as witches and monsters on Friday night, some 10,000 Christians are expected at a free rock concert in Paris to celebrate the Christian All Saint's Day on Saturday and Sunday's Festival of the Dead. "Halloween has put these Christian holidays into the shade. Lots of young people don't even know them any more," said Ines Azais, in charge of an initiative by the French Catholic Church. "Halloween plays with death, it wants to scare us. But we want to show that we're not afraid of death. We believe in resurrection and want to celebrate life," she told Reuters. Pumpkin decorations and "haunted castle" theme parties, associated with the Halloween holiday in the United States, have only recently arrived in France, a country keen to protect itself from what it sees as U.S. cultural dominance. Around 35 percent of French celebrated Halloween last year, slightly up on 2001, according to a survey in Le Figaro daily. Some bakeries are also turning their backs on pumpkins and cobwebs, which are prominently displayed in many French shops around Halloween, and have put up figurines of saints in their windows instead. "Halloween isn't French at all," said Odile Roussel, whose Paris bakery was equipped with its "saints kit" by a church initiative. It includes notes on different saints and a special recipe for a pistachio and nut-flavored "All Saint's cake." "It's very popular. Clients like the fact that the cake represents a Christian event," Roussel said. Striking a less religious note, fast food chain Flunch is also making a stand against Halloween products by celebrating an ancient local tradition -- the Gallic New Year -- instead. Following in the footsteps of plucky cartoon character Asterix, diners eat dishes such as boar and cabbage in stores decorated with cardboard druids, and can find an inflatable helmet or sword in their meal.