Reformation Day and All Saint's Day

On October 31, 1517 an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed the 95-Theses to the Castle Church in Wittenberg and accidentally started the Protestant revolution. (We're Protestant because we protested against the Catholic Church. The "ant" is just a handy Latin left-over.) (If people want to nail topics for debate to a church door, check to see if the door is glass first. If the door is glass, there's a nifty new invention called tape, which is a kind of sticky paper. Use that instead; most pastors don't like it when they go into the church and find out the door is shattered. They prefer nail holes.)

On November 1, every year for centuries, Christians remember the other Christians who have died. Only Catholics, as far as I know, are the ones who pray for the saints. Most Lutherans probably ignore All Saint's Day, but some will actually remember the saints. (Also, all Christians are saints. Even the alive Christians. But I wouldn't go up to Aly and say, "Hey, Saint Aly, how're you?" because that'd be goofy.

On, and Reformation Day is a civil holiday in Germany, according to Brigitte--a native German in my Greek class and one of Dad's classmates.

Also, go here for a good post by Veith: http://www.geneveith.com/2012/10/31/reforming-the-church/. (I don't know if Veith is a pastor, lay-person, professor, or what. We always call him Veith around the house.)