Nov. 3, 2003 — In this predominantly Catholic country where most young adults still live at home, 13 youths who celebrated Halloween having sex in a cemetery have been detained, police said.
The youths, aged 13 to 20 and including five girls, went to a burial ground near this Adriatic town to experience "having sex between the graves," police said.
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They arrived at the cemetery in the seaside resort of Vasto Friday in two separate groups and were detained before midnight.
A court is now to decide if charges can be held against them even though they did not cause any damages.
The archbishop of Palermo in Sicily meanwhile criticized Halloween at Sunday's mass saying it "is an offense to the respect due to the departed."
The celebration of Halloween deters from the "required solemnity to celebrate All Saints' Day and the Day of the Dead," Archbishop Salvatore De Giorgi said.
The annual festival of Halloween normally sees youngsters dress up in costumes on the evening of October 31, the night before the Roman Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day, and ask neighbors for a treat such as sweets or chocolates, or have a trick played on them instead.
In a distant past, it was believed that the spirits of the dead returned on that night to wreak mischief, and dressing in costume kept them from recognizing you.
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