Evil balls with special passes: the fight against Halloween has driven Russian witches underground

The Russian public has seriously taken up the task of eradicating the overseas holiday not only from children’s educational institutions, but also from entertainment establishments such as clubs, where previously on the night of November 1, “evil spirits’ balls” dedicated to Halloween were held. And now the adherents of the night of horror are forced to go underground.

Have we found out who they are and why they cling so much to someone else’s tradition?

Throughout the three decades that Halloween has been celebrated with varying degrees of scale in Russia, it has had its opponents – both among politicians and social activists, and among parents and even students under 18 themselves. But by and large, the decision whether to celebrate or not was left up to the children’s institution itself, be it a school or even a kindergarten. If the majority of parents did not object, then costumes with accessories were purchased and sewn – and on the last day of October, the educational institution held an “evil spirits ball.” With the active participation of teachers, educators and parent activists who dressed up as zombies along with their students. But this October, perhaps for the first time since the early 90s, when Russians first celebrated “not our” Halloween, someone else’s holiday is not just “not recommended”, but practically prohibited.

“Of course, no one gave a separate decree regarding its ban on Halloween,” shares Anna Vyacheslavovna, an English teacher at one of the capital’s language-oriented secondary schools. “But an unspoken order came from above: nothing “Halloween-like.” It’s just that in all previous years, even when there was an increase in Halloween (and it already happened), we, as in-depth students of the Romano-Germanic group of languages, were made an exception. We always, in one way or another, celebrate the holidays of the country of the language we are studying, as well as study its traditions – this is how it is supposed to be according to the Russian curriculum. I studied at a Moscow English special school back in the USSR, and even then we were allowed to write “Valentines” in February, and at the end of October stage horror plays based on Edgar Allan Poe, as long as everything was in English. And now we are told not to delve into other people’s traditions.”

-Who exactly orders?

– The teaching staff learns about “trends” from the director. And we don’t need any other knowledge. If you are talking about the “dynamics of Halloween rhetoric,” as we joke in the staff room, then it is easy to track it in Milonov’s speeches.

On the eve of Halloween, State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov has already warned that he has opened a “hotline” where anyone can send their complaints about those who celebrate the holiday, “as a result of which our children become feminists and LGBT activists.”

“If I receive reports about the celebration or inclination to celebrate Halloween in Russian schools, I will seek to send for recertification and retraining those teachers who allowed this,” the parliamentarian decisively stated.

This people’s representative is consistent in his position: he fought against Halloween 5 years ago – but with much more “velvet” gloves. As Milonov himself admits, things have never come to the point of severe punishment in the form of dismissal of teachers, while the perpetrators were limited to disciplinary sanctions. And the hotline for complaints about the “holiday of evil spirits” received only a couple of dozen applications a year, which five years ago led to its “self-dissolution.” But now it has started working with renewed vigor. And judging by the tough position of some regions and schools, she may receive many more calls this time. This is how they openly declared their rejection of someone else’s holiday in Bashkiria, clarifying that the attitude concerns not only children’s educational institutions, but also entertainment infrastructure such as clubs and catering, which previously liked to use Halloween themes. And Izhevsk school No. 16 even came up with their own holiday – Pumpkin Spas. Today the entire RuNet is already discussing it, but it was the students of this school who discovered the idea in its vastness.

“We specifically looked at something similar to Apple and Honey Spas, since Halloween was also initially tied not to scary things, but to the pumpkin harvest,” says Grigory, a high school student at this school. – And they found a mention of the Pumpkin Savior in Rus’. The priest who teaches Orthodoxy here, however, said that there is no such day in the church calendar. Well, okay, the main thing is not to call this thing Halloween. Because we already have a party planned, we can’t cancel it.

But if Izhevsk schoolchildren are able to “disguise a Halloween party as a Pumpkin Pass”, since they mainly intend to just dance and socialize in an informal setting, then in Russia there are those who cannot live without Halloween. And not because he dreams and sees how to “introduce an alien ideology.”

“I’ve been doing cosplay (transformation into various images from movies, cartoons and computer games, not only at the level of costume, but also the transfer of plasticity, facial expressions, vocabulary, etc.) for almost 10 of my 15 years,” cries tenth-grader Agata from Moscow. – I took places at events (cosplay festivals), constantly participate in quests – in general, I have already risen in the hierarchy (cosplayers have something like a social elevator and subordination within the party). And now my whole life’s work has been crossed out!

– Why? Just not at school – that’s all.

– But no. My signature images are Kayako Saeki (a Japanese ghost schoolgirl who takes revenge on her offenders after death – author), Countess Battori (a medieval Hungarian aristocrat famous for her cruelty) and Samara Morgan (the bloodthirsty girl from the thriller The Ring, beloved by teenagers all over the world). I’ve always been the best at Halloween parties, but now they’re banned. Not only in schools, but also in clubs. There will be parties, but you can’t dress like a horror movie.

This is confirmed by other Moscow high school students: in some schools, parties have not been canceled, but simply renamed, provided that no “witches”, “zombies” and other “not our” heroes should be present at them. The school administration argues for its decision by saying that “the children mainly need a vibrant carnival and the opportunity to socialize in an extracurricular setting, which does no harm, only benefit.” And according to the teachers’ council, “no one really even noticed” the change in the “news feed.” No one – except for enthusiastic cosplayers with a “terrible” role. They secretly admitted that the “evil balls” on October 31 will still take place, but behind closed doors. No one knows the specific place and time yet, except the organizers themselves: at hour X, “passwords and appearances” will drop on the phones of those who are in the know.

“And let the rest dress up with pumpkins and celebrate their Pumpkin Day,” concludes the “bloodthirsty girl” from a Moscow school.