November 02, 2017

Slavic-Style Spooks


Slavic-Style Spooks
Trick or Travesty

Russia’s got a bone to pick with Halloween. Since it falls on the eve of All Saints’ Day, the celebration’s focus on candy and costumes rankles some Russian Orthodox believers. Still, some young folks dress up and celebrate for fun. Many Russians either ignore the holiday, considering it a Western sort of spook, while others decry the candy binge it often entails for tender-toothed youngsters. Wherever you fall, here are some scary and spooky stories to give you a shiver.

In Haunter News

1. Think twice before you don that tiger skin or mount a mammoth tusk for your costume: endangered species face internet trafficking as well as illegal hunting. Luckily, officials have barred over 1000 such websites.

2. Is a severed pig’s head engraved with a pentagram a Halloween costume gone wrong or the start of a barnyard horror movie? Since it was left on the door of a supporter of anti-corruption activist and presidential hopeful Alexey Navalny, there’s a slight chance it’s also a political statement.

3. Hallowon’t? If you change your mind and want a Russian-themed costume, here are ideas for DIY creations to represent Russia in your wicked wardrobe.

Quote of the Week 

"Despite being widely known, Halloween has failed to be absorbed into Russia’s (culture) – only three percent of those familiar with Halloween plan to celebrate it."
—A survey by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center on Russians’ attention to Halloween this year.

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Some of Our Books

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Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Chekhov Bilingual

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Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
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