In rural and urban schools children were told not to believe in God. The state banned traditional holidays—Christmas, Easter, saints’ days—as well as Sunday services, replacing them with Bolshevik celebrations such as May Day and the anniversary of the revolution. It also organized atheist lectures and anti-religious meetings. The whole cycle of traditional peasant life—christenings, weddings, funerals—was disrupted. The authorities promoted “getting together” instead of marriage, a status marked by a visit to a registry office rather than a church, and with no traditional feast or celebration
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