Still in October...Reformation Day (or Halloween in Some places)

October 31, 2017
Since it has been 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his Theses to the door at Wittenberg, we had to amp up our celebration. KS and I, the morning before, talked briefly and threw together some activities for the event. She drew an amazing portrait of the door, and I printed the theses and came up with other games.

As part of our homeschool day I reminded the kids why we celebrate reformation day and its impact on their very own lives (they are protestant, for one). We talked about its impact on the life of the church, not to mention so many other ways that this first act spurred the reformation that really did change the face of Europe and consequently affected the world.

We read about Luther, we read about the climate of the catholic church and practice at the time. We sang hymns. And lastly, we decided to fuse it with the common day practice of dressing up and asking for candy....

Before going to 'protest' and nail the these to the door, each dressed in character. Not a character from the reformation scene, but others just as interesting....

 Padame (Star Wars) Coker

Obi-Wan Coker

Dr. Coker

Outlaw Coker

 What a rag tag team of protesters.

Wait we found more...Harry Potter, spiderman, and a few princesses

Printed in modern day print type it took eight pages...
imagine what Luther's 95 Theses looked like!

After Luther protested and he had to defend himself at the 'Diet of Worms' in Germany, we had our own little 'Diet of Worms' relay. I kind of hacked this by using chopsticks and not your normal gummy worms. It was hilarious to watch them hang tight to the worms with chopsticks and run to get them in their respective bowls...

 And later, K came up with Wittenberg Bingo....lots of skittles involved.

In the end the adults spread out in the room and the kiddos petitioned each one for goodies with the normal 'trick or treat' chime.
Yes, we called it a Fusion of History meeting Modern, with candy as an ultra-important center piece (in keeping with our half-hearted desire to keep up with some parts of American culture). And like a good momma, I snuck in apples and pennies, just to give them something to complain about...except they didn't know they were supposed to complain....so not much grumbling. And while they 'only' got about two small handfuls of candy, they were over the moon. And this is one of those instances where I happily keep them in the dark, they do not need to know what they are missing.
Overall a blast! Happy Reformation Day.