Russians love fun holidays and embraced St. Valentine’s Day decades ago. However, Halloween is not as well known and loved, and only 3% of respondents in a recent poll said they were planning to celebrate it, although additional 90% of people are aware of this date.

Only 3% of Russians will celebrate Halloween this year

This is quite a large number, if you think about it. In the scale of the whole of Russia it’s over 4 million people. Remember, we are talking about a holiday that is completely foreign to Russia and was unknown until recently. It’s like 4 million Americans would be celebrating some specific holiday, such as The Old New Year.

Besides, while America has a large number of immigrants from the countries of the former USSR, Russia doesn’t have an influx of USA citizens living there permanently. So, the people who are planning to enjoy the celebrations on 31 October are locals.

Among young people, the number of devotees is much higher than in other groups: 13% of 18-22-year-olds plan to do it, along with 5% of 25-34-year-olds. Older people barely indicate interest: 1% among people aged 45+ and nearly nobody aged 35-44 plans to do it.

The leading reasons why people aren’t going to join the party is that they feel this holiday foreign (67%), unimportant (34%) and can see nothing good about Halloween (16%).

Russians have a rather indifferent attitude towards other locals going to Halloween parties (68%), while 18% have a negative view of that. In total, 13% of respondents stated they feel positive about people partying on 31 October (among the age group 18-24, 30% view it positively).

Russian women are known for their penchant to dress up, and this date gives it the perfect excuse!

In 2018, the number of people who said they were celebrating Halloween was 5%. Did it drop so much in just one year or is it a statistical glitch?

Why do Russians celebrate the foreign holiday of Halloween?

Most likely, simply because it’s a fun holiday where you can dress up and fool around. Some of the people who plan to join the celebrations might have spent time in the USA as students and grown to love Halloween.

• 15% of respondents believe the reason is simply to have another holiday, as there are not enough of it.
• 12% of poll participants point out to the import of western culture.
• 10% survey takers think it’s because the party goers like it and find it interesting.
• 8% of respondents believe it’s a personal business and everyone can do what they wish, while 6% of users think it’s because the people have nothing better to do.
• 5% of survey takes think it’s simply fashion.

Halloween in Russia is celebrated mostly in large cities in clubs as a party, not by little kids from school or kindergarten walking with baskets in the street collecting sweets. People don’t decorate homes for that, just get together and dress up. There are club-based parties for kids as well, but mostly Halloween in Russia is grownups’ business.

The holiday itself has a bit of “forbidden” flavour, as something not totally appropriate for a law-abiding citizen, but nevertheless a fun thing to do.

Data: WCIOM.ru

Read also:

• Holidays in Russia: Which ones Russians love to celebrate?
• Another weird Russian holiday: The Old New Year
• What do Russians think about education abroad? Is it better or worse than in Russia?
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