Advertisements put out by nightclubs, promising a night of fright and chills, are becoming omnipresent in urban centers all over Eastern Europe as Halloween Night nears. This one is a good example.

Such street and even newspaper ads about Halloween parties in European countries has been a sure sign of acceptance of the Halloween tradition there, but the old-school conservatives in every country make sure to get their voice heard, and they speak against Halloween. And Russia is no different – one of the officials of the Russian Orthodox church has spoken numerous times against the spread of the tradition. The West’s obsession and mystification of Hallows Eve is seen as …glorification of evil, no less. Perceived as a celebration of a night when the evil spirits rule the Earth (and I am not exaggerating – such fairy-tale terms are indeed used by the opponents of Halloween’s traditions in Eastern Europe).
I myself think that, while not every yard in front of a house needs to resemble a graveyard, see Halloween as harmless. Stay away from the horror films that weekend, and all shall be fine. And very few things could possibly be worse than “Scream IV” poorly dubbed into Russian, take my word for it. Hallows Eve in Russia – more of controversy and less of a masquerade than it should be. What justification do opponents of this Western tradition use?