Yes, it's an official holiday - at least for the Lutheran church - but even those of us without a church calendar should have an interest in the historical significance of October 31. Four hundred and eighty-eight years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses onto the doors of the Wittenburg Cathedral; the sonnet below, written by a friend who excels in all things word-related (and whose name I'll withhold until she gives me permission to publish it), is good for telling the story from a more abstract Protestant perspective.
The pen that moves the centuries is done,
the paper dries that bears the age's sword--
a few small sentences, an iron word,
the thoughts a restless man is moved to own.
Then Truth and Justice pound the oaken door,
arousing men to come and take and read
a summons saints of old had often plead--
then whispered, shouted now as ne'er before.
The cries resound throughout the tomb-like hall,
shake ancient pillars, burst the colored glass,
drown out the dreary drone of Latin mass,
awaking the cathedral of man's soul.
Thus five and ninety words make darkness flee
and echo through the vaults of history.
