… for a man to wear?
(c) 2018, Davd
Martin Luther, of course!
He nailed his 95 Theses to the church door on All Saints Eve, because
‣ the church door was the town bulletin board in that part of Germany, in 1517;
‣ and All Saints’ Day (November 1) was a major feast day in the church calendar, so more people could be expected to come to church November 1 than on most Sundays;
He put up his theses, then, on the eve of a day when they would be seen by more people than average. It was publication as publication could be done in that time.1 Considering what developed from that “publication”, it was a major historic event — the most important historic event I can name, that took place on October 31.
To help you wear a Luther costume, I’ll provide some biographic information about the Reformer and the Reformation, so if people you meet ask about the costume, you don’t need to sound ignorant.
In that year 1517, Martin Luther was a monk, a professor [with some kind of doctorate, but i won’t say Ph.D. because European degrees don’t always follow the same name system as North American]. He was not as important as a bishop, but he was more important than the average monk or priest. He was neither an obscure monk, nor a major figure in the Church of his time…
… and that October 31, he challenged some practices of the European (Roman-Catholic) church. One was the sale, for money, of “indulgences“, or tickets out of Purgatory2.
Luther believed, and I’m persuaded he was right to believe, that selling God’s grace for money was morally wrong — that it was right to demand it be reformed. I rather doubt that those indulgences actually got people out of Purgatory; indeed, the Orthodox (and most Protestant) Christians i know don’t believe Purgatory exists.
Luther posted his theses, not to break up the Roman-Catholic church, but to reform it: That’s where the word Reformation comes from. It was the Pope who expelled Luther from the church, and many Germans, especially, left with him to form a church much like the Roman-Catholic in its worship services, but with differences in doctrine. (If you love reading, you can find a few million words, I’d estimate, about the Reformation, Lutheran teaching, changes in Roman-Catholic teaching, … more than you are likely to be able to read before November.)
Back to the costume as a good choice: It’s not spooky, it’s got no hint of evil to it, it’s modest (Luther was a monk as well as a professor and is usually pictured wearing the robe and hood [cowl] of a European monk.) If Hallowe’en is cold where you live, as it will be in most of Canada, that robe and cowl will be pleasantly warm.3
We’ve been warned this year, against wearing costumes that are the ethnic clothing of other races. I have warn a judogi as a costume, some past years; but while I’m not Japanese, I have participated in Judo — it’s not my ethnic clothing but it is my sports clothing, or was when my knees were better.
But Halloween is not about judo, and it is about Luther. Even if you don’t look Germanic, even if you’re not of European race, the Luther costume is one of the few you might choose, that is historically linked to the 31st of October… and it is a good conversation starter because most people who aren’t Lutherans or church historians, don’t know that it is.
(I should have published this blog last year, whose October 31 was the 500th anniversary of Luther’s publication of his Theses. I was too busy thinking about the substance of the Reformation, a year ago, to think about costumes.)
If you can get back in time to last year — go for it. If not, the Luther costume is a good answer to allusions of evil and sorcery, to insistence you be politically correct4 and not dress up as somebody of a different culture or race. It is free of spookiness and sorcery and the macabre; instead it is about the most important historic event of October 31 — one that most people don’t link to the day, but history does.
You could even call it a teaching costume.
References:
Durant, Will, 1957. The Reformation: A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564. NYC: Simon and Schuster.
Wells, H. G. 1920: The Outline of History: The Whole Story of Man. New York: Macmillan. I use the Canadian Project Gutenberg Ebook edition, 2014.
Notes:
1… and no, there wasn’t the “Halloween” foolishness about ghosts, witches, etc. 500 years ago. I don’t recall the story of how that foolishness began; it seems obvious that today, it is encouraged by commercial interests that expect to “make money” from it. If the Government of Canada proposes to tax Internet use, they ought to tax Halloween foolishness (and sexuality-showing-off products) while they are at it.
2. The underlined words should be easy to look up in Wikipedia, the Catholic Encyclopedia, and probably other online sources. An encyclopedic dictionary should also have them.
3. They can accommodate a sweater if it’s below freezing where you are, and still look the part.
4. Saturday at City Hall in Ottawa, a correspondent from there reports, “… the Mayor organized a free trick or treat event for children. They had mainly TV and Movie characters to hand out treats (Superman, Wonder woman, etc.) They chose for the Wizard of Oz — 3 women dressed as the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow.” Politically correct, maybe, but not factually.
What’s the best Hallowe’en costume?
… for a man to wear?
(c) 2018, Davd
Martin Luther, of course!
He nailed his 95 Theses to the church door on All Saints Eve, because
‣ the church door was the town bulletin board in that part of Germany, in 1517;
‣ and All Saints’ Day (November 1) was a major feast day in the church calendar, so more people could be expected to come to church November 1 than on most Sundays;
He put up his theses, then, on the eve of a day when they would be seen by more people than average. It was publication as publication could be done in that time.1 Considering what developed from that “publication”, it was a major historic event — the most important historic event I can name, that took place on October 31.
To help you wear a Luther costume, I’ll provide some biographic information about the Reformer and the Reformation, so if people you meet ask about the costume, you don’t need to sound ignorant.
In that year 1517, Martin Luther was a monk, a professor [with some kind of doctorate, but i won’t say Ph.D. because European degrees don’t always follow the same name system as North American]. He was not as important as a bishop, but he was more important than the average monk or priest. He was neither an obscure monk, nor a major figure in the Church of his time…
… and that October 31, he challenged some practices of the European (Roman-Catholic) church. One was the sale, for money, of “indulgences“, or tickets out of Purgatory2.
Luther believed, and I’m persuaded he was right to believe, that selling God’s grace for money was morally wrong — that it was right to demand it be reformed. I rather doubt that those indulgences actually got people out of Purgatory; indeed, the Orthodox (and most Protestant) Christians i know don’t believe Purgatory exists.
Luther posted his theses, not to break up the Roman-Catholic church, but to reform it: That’s where the word Reformation comes from. It was the Pope who expelled Luther from the church, and many Germans, especially, left with him to form a church much like the Roman-Catholic in its worship services, but with differences in doctrine. (If you love reading, you can find a few million words, I’d estimate, about the Reformation, Lutheran teaching, changes in Roman-Catholic teaching, … more than you are likely to be able to read before November.)
Back to the costume as a good choice: It’s not spooky, it’s got no hint of evil to it, it’s modest (Luther was a monk as well as a professor and is usually pictured wearing the robe and hood [cowl] of a European monk.) If Hallowe’en is cold where you live, as it will be in most of Canada, that robe and cowl will be pleasantly warm.3
We’ve been warned this year, against wearing costumes that are the ethnic clothing of other races. I have warn a judogi as a costume, some past years; but while I’m not Japanese, I have participated in Judo — it’s not my ethnic clothing but it is my sports clothing, or was when my knees were better.
But Halloween is not about judo, and it is about Luther. Even if you don’t look Germanic, even if you’re not of European race, the Luther costume is one of the few you might choose, that is historically linked to the 31st of October… and it is a good conversation starter because most people who aren’t Lutherans or church historians, don’t know that it is.
(I should have published this blog last year, whose October 31 was the 500th anniversary of Luther’s publication of his Theses. I was too busy thinking about the substance of the Reformation, a year ago, to think about costumes.)
If you can get back in time to last year — go for it. If not, the Luther costume is a good answer to allusions of evil and sorcery, to insistence you be politically correct4 and not dress up as somebody of a different culture or race. It is free of spookiness and sorcery and the macabre; instead it is about the most important historic event of October 31 — one that most people don’t link to the day, but history does.
You could even call it a teaching costume.
References:
Durant, Will, 1957. The Reformation: A History of European Civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300-1564. NYC: Simon and Schuster.
Wells, H. G. 1920: The Outline of History: The Whole Story of Man. New York: Macmillan. I use the Canadian Project Gutenberg Ebook edition, 2014.
Notes:
1… and no, there wasn’t the “Halloween” foolishness about ghosts, witches, etc. 500 years ago. I don’t recall the story of how that foolishness began; it seems obvious that today, it is encouraged by commercial interests that expect to “make money” from it. If the Government of Canada proposes to tax Internet use, they ought to tax Halloween foolishness (and sexuality-showing-off products) while they are at it.
2. The underlined words should be easy to look up in Wikipedia, the Catholic Encyclopedia, and probably other online sources. An encyclopedic dictionary should also have them.
3. They can accommodate a sweater if it’s below freezing where you are, and still look the part.
4. Saturday at City Hall in Ottawa, a correspondent from there reports, “… the Mayor organized a free trick or treat event for children. They had mainly TV and Movie characters to hand out treats (Superman, Wonder woman, etc.) They chose for the Wizard of Oz — 3 women dressed as the Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow.” Politically correct, maybe, but not factually.
About Davd
Davd (PhD, 1966) has been a professor, a single father keeping a small commercial herb garden so as to have flexible time for his sons, and editor of _Ecoforestry_. He is a practicing Christian, and in particular an advocate of ecoforestry, self-sufficiency horticulture, and men of all faiths living together "in peace and brotherhood" for the fellowship, the efficiency, and the goodwill that sharing work so often brings.