looking for good Russian ghost stories

[Ralph Cleminson]

On Mon, 27 Oct 1997 Natalie O. Kononenko wrote:

>         In the meantime, no, there is no Halloween in Russia.
> All hallows eve comes on the eve of All Saints day which is
> Vsekh sviatykh in Russian and that does exist as a church
> holiday.

However, it should be noted that All Saints' in the East is not 1st
November, but the first Sunday after Trinity, i.e. two weeks after
Pentecost.  The preceding Saturday is not especially observed (except
that it is the apodosis of Pentecost).

>         Russian yearly cycle festivals are quite different from
> festivals in the west.  Commemoration of the dead occurs at all
> sorts of times in the year.

This is indeed the case; notable examples are the eve of Pentecost
and the third Saturday before Lent (i.e. the day before Mjasopustnaja
nedelja, which itself corresponds to Sexagesima in the Western rite).
There are others, such as Radunica, the second Monday after Easter,
and there may also be local variants.  Liturgically, however, these
correspond rather to All Souls' Day, which is November 2nd, than to
Hallowe'en, which is October 31st, though insofar as they may serve
as a focus for superstition, there may be a parallel.

And Anna Rakityanskaya wrote:

> Last year Halloween was indeed widely celebrated in pro-Western
> Moscow night clubs.
which seems the best place for it.
>
> (Speaking of Valentine's Day, last year it was on the front pages of
> most of the Russian newspapers on February 14.)

This is clearly a celebration of the same order, since the holy
martyr Valentine is commemorated in the East on 30th July.
Incidentally, am I right in thinking that he was recently removed
from the Roman calendar?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R.M.Cleminson, M.A., D.Phil.
Dept of Mediaeval Studies, Central European University
Post: H-1245 Budapest 5, P.O.B.1082
Phone: +361 327 3024   Fax: +361 327 3055
http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/ralph.htm