On 31st October, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses criticising aspects of the Catholic Church to the church door in Wittenberg, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt).
In doing so, he started the Reformation in Germany, something still very visible today with churches for Catholic and Protestant (evanglisch) congregations, and even separate Religious Educations lessons in school for children depending on which religion they belong to.
It is a public holiday in the Eastern part of Germany, in some other areas school either close completely or allow their pupils time off to go to church.
This year is different. For the 500th anniversary, the day has been made a national public holiday, although technically what has happened is that each of the areas, where it is not normally a holiday, as passed a by-law to make it such just for this year. Schools and shops will be closed for the day, with some parts of Germany enjoying a double holiday with All Saints Day being a regional holiday as well.
10 Years ago I recorded a podcast about the Reformationstag in German. Click here to listen to it.
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