Happy Reformation Day
 

I'm a Lutheran and theological junkie so I thought I'd wish all you guys a Happy Reformation Day! It's the day Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the cathederal in Wittenberg setting in motion the Reformation which would reshape Western civilization. Amazing.

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Reformation Day

Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated in remembrance of the Reformation, particularly by Lutheran and Reformed church communities. It takes place on October 31 and is an official holiday in many countries. It coincides with Halloween, the eve before All Saints' Day.

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. When Luther and his supporters were excommunicated in 1520, the Lutheran, Reformed and Anabaptist traditions were born.

Within the Lutheran church, Reformation Day is considered a minor festival, and is officially referred to as The Festival of the Reformation. Until the 20th Century, most Lutheran churches celebrated Reformation Day on October 31st, regardless of which day of the week it occurred. Today, most Lutheran churches transfer the festival, so that it falls on the Sunday (called Reformation Sunday) on or before October 31st and transfer All Saints' Day to the Sunday on or after November 1st.

The liturgical color of the day is red, which represents the Holy Spirit and the Martyrs of the Christian Church. Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God is traditionally sung on this day. Lutherans customarily stand during the hymn, in memory of its use in the religious wars of the Sixteenth Century.

It is also traditional in some Lutheran schools for schoolchildren to hold Reformation Day plays or pageants that re-enact scenes from the life of Martin Luther.

R1100S reformation?
 

...umm, good info.

It's also:

A day to indulge in revels to celebrate the anniversary of Reza Pahlavi's declaring himself, on this day in 1980, the rightful heir to the Peacock Throne.

It's also John Keats' birthday. Celebrate his birthday today in honor of the civilization of which his work is a small but luminous component.

Also, today marks the 80th anniversary of the Halloween 1926 death of Harry Houdini....

jeff
... always finding something to celebrate... :)

...it is also the day I started work this morning at six, and stopped 11 hours later at 5...

...and I still can't find a reason for celebrating this...:(

SPAMMER!!!

most importantly, it's also my birthday :)

I have a Pahlavi that lives in my neighborhood.
they have heavy security at that location.
I recently saw them out walking for the first time in a long time, and yes, there WAS a crown vic about 50 feet behind them the whole time. What a strange world we live in.

Amen

Hi 718Rider,

Yes Amen for the Reformation!

We visited the town of Wittenberg in 1997. I've stood in front of the doorway where Luther nailed his 95 Thesis. I also went up into the Church Tower which is just a few steps to the right of those doors. At the top I met a family from Vietnam. They stayed in East Germany after the fall of the DDR.

It seems the East German Communists imported labor from Angola, Cuba, and Vietnam because they had very little mechanization/automation and therefore need more laborers to do manufacturing.

I'll also never forget my conversation with an elderly Gent (Herr Werner Groeger in Niederoderwitz) who explained to me how his son waited 10 years for delivery after ordering a new Trabant. The East Germans were fond of saying "we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us".

As a protestant I'm grateful for the Reformation and Martin Luther's boldness...especially considering that Johannes Huss was earlier burned at the stake for a similar stand against the leadership in Rome.

You guys forgot the most important anniversary. It's Vanilla Ice's B-day on Halloween. Duh!

Here's a popular local Lutheran cheer:

Lutefish, lutefish
Leftsa, leftsa,
We gonna beat you,
yashure, youbetcha

Isn't that poem in the 'How to speak like a Minnesotan' textbook?
Jim

Haven't had lefse for many years. I like lefse.

Luther delivered many famous edicts and coined many cool phrases which have become staples in the German language.

One of my favourites is a phrase which made bonking your wife twice a week the norm in Germany for many generations.:

"Der woche zwier,
macht's jahr hundert und vier,
schadet weder mir noch dir."

Loose Translation :

two times a week
is one hundred and four times per year
this will harm neither you nor me

The Lutheran churches that I've attended generally stand for all of the hymns, not just that one. The key question is...

Do you sing "A Mighty Fortress " syncopated or not?

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Hey...Right or wrong, every iteration of Christainity is the result of someone not agreeing with the "way thigs were being done". I find that interesting. Selling indulgences was wrong, divorce was wrong, statues and paintings depicting God or Saints was wrong....

So.....Which iteration is correct?

Yeah...history is all about point of view.

I remember one historian who characterized Martin Luther as a horny but charismatic priest who became an unwitting accomplice to the bourgeoisie who wished to take up the unchristian practice of usury.

But history is funny that way. Out here, we have people who see Custer as fallen hero and others who see him as a genocidal egomaniac...same story, same ending, but different points of view...cool really.

Happy Birthday!!!

Quite possibly none of them. :>)

So when's Festivus?