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October 31
Reformation Day and All Hallows' Eve
David Barnhart
October 31, 2025
St. Mary’s Church in Wittenberg, where Martin Luther preached.
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a young monk frustrated with several Roman Catholic teachings and the practice of selling indulgences, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Saxony (part of modern-day Germany). Though tensions had been building for many years, this is considered the flash point in beginning the Protestant Reformation. For this reason, October 31 is often known as “Reformation Day.”
An illustration of Wittenburg at the Lucas Cranach house.
Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and even Henry VIII all played rival roles in a movement that would transform European Christianity. Two hundred years later, John Wesley would lead another reformation with the Church of England that would become the Methodist movement. Though Luther contributed many things to Christianity, his anti-semitic writings remain a problematic heritage.
October 31 marks “All Hallows’ Eve,” the night before All Hallows’ Day, or All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day (on November 1) has historically been about all those who have died as champions of the faith or as martyrs, and All Souls’ Day (on November 2) memorializes all followers of Jesus. Both are observances of the “Great Cloud of Witnesses” surrounding us all. The Mexican Day of the Dead incorporates indigenous and Roman Catholic elements of honoring ancestors, and also occurs during this season.
“Hallowe’en” developed as a folk tradition on the night before All Saint’s Day (“All Hallows’ Day”). Like Carnival, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, it was a harvest celebration with masks and parades, and the combination of non-Christian elements with fear of pagan or demonic influence led to a more recent condemnation of Halloween by fundamentalist churches.
Reflection:
Martin Luther’s writings are extensive. Among his insights are these:
“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”
and
“The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God....Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices.”
Prayer: Gracious God, we know that perfect love casts out fear. Perfect us in love so that we may not only be merciful, but brave in the pursuit of justice. Let us fear no boogeymen. Amen.