Russians walk past a pile of Halloween pumpkins in Red Square in Moscow October 30, 2005. Moscow schools have been ordered to ban students from celebrating Halloween despite the widespread popularity of the imported festival to Russia. REUTERS/Ivan Buslayev
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow schools have been ordered to ban students from celebrating Halloween despite the widespread popularity of the imported festival to Russia.
Halloween is being forced underground because it “includes religious elements, the cult of death, the mockery of death,” a spokesman for the city’s education department Alexander Gavrilov said Wednesday.
“It’s not an attempt to block the celebration of this holiday completely, just in schools and colleges,” he added.
Pumpkins and images of witches are widespread across Russia, with many bars organizing special fancy dress parties, despite the efforts of the Kremlin, and especially the Russian Orthodox Church, to curb enthusiasm for non-native festivities.
“This is destructive for the minds and the spiritual and moral health of pupils,” said Gavrilov.
A pumpkin in a dark field. 
Schools in Moscow, Russia have been told by the city's department of education to not allow any Halloween-related events.

Alexander Gavrilov, press secretary of the education department, told ''Interfax'', "The department's stance has remained invariable since 2003, when the leadership of the department sent a letter to Moscow principals, which bans holding Halloween events at their schools."

Gavrilov further said that the ban is because this holiday "includes religious elements, including the cult of death, the mockery of death, personification of death and evil, which contradict the secular nature of state educational institutions." 

"This is destructive for the minds and the spiritual and moral health of pupils," he said. "It's not an attempt to block the celebration of this holiday completely, just in schools and colleges."