Reformation Day
October 31 commemorates the date in 1517 AD when Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” on the church door in the city of Wittenberg (in present-day Saxony-Anhalt, Germany), the event that is seen as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Founded upon a belief of individual (rather than papal) interpretation of scripture and raising serious questions regarding the relationship between church and state, and the state and the individual, the Reformation launched by Luther forced a huge and lasting schism in Western Christianity, and led to major upheavals in Western European society and civilization. These changes are part of the reason why historians refer to the period from the Renaissance to the present as “modern” European history, as they shaped Western civilization as it is today.
Halloween and All Saints / Souls Day
Sunday, October 31, is Halloween. Halloween is commonly seen as having its origins in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, occurring at the end of October. Samhain was a celebration of the end of the harvest season, but the Celts also believed that during Samhain the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead were blurred. According to History.com, the ancient Romans, who conquered Celtic lands, also had a festival at the end of October commemorating the dead.
After the fall of the western Roman Empire, Pope Boniface dedicated the Pantheon (a temple in Rome that originally had honored all Roman gods) as a Christian church in honor of martyrs who had died for their Christian faith. The Roman Catholic Church later declared November 1 to be a day to honor martyrs (this came to be known as “All Saints Day”, or “All Hallows Day”) and November 2 a day to honor the dead (“All Souls Day”). This is the day that is celebrated as “Dia de los Muertos”, or “Day of the Dead” in Mexico and in many parts of the United States.
The evening prior to “All Hallows Day” came to be known in England as “All Hallows Eve”, shortened to “Hallow’een”. Halloween was not much celebrated in the early US, in part due to strong Puritan beliefs against it. It grew as a holiday as more immigrants came to the US in the 19th century, particularly from Ireland. The custom of children “trick or treating” in costume, however, appears to be a purely American invention. Halloweenhistory.org states that the first print references to the practice can be found in the 1930s.
Native American Heritage Month
November is National Native American Heritage Month, a time for recognizing the history of American Indians and their contributions to the United States.
Election Day
According to History.com, the United States originally allowed states to hold elections in a 34 day period in late fall. This time of year was chosen because of the agrarian cycle--spring and early summer are important for planting, and early fall is harvest time, so late fall / early winter seemed most convenient at a time when most Americans were farmers. Allowing a month-long window for elections proved problematic, however, as it was found that the returns of states that held elections early in the window influenced the choices of voters in states late in the window. Thus in 1845 Congress passed a law establishing the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the single day when all elections for national office would take place. This year (2021) that day is November 2. Happy voting!