oloriel | A free day for... free

Sooo all the western federal states in my country have been given an extra holiday today in celebration of the 500 year anniversary of some crazy friar publishing his 95 theses on Why Indulgences Suck And Actually Don’t Work, kicking off the landslide that eventually ended in the institution of Protestantism. Today he'd be using Twitter but back then he had to nail it to the church door - what can you do. (The eastern states are getting a day off for Reformation Day every year so they don’t get an extra, sorry folks). Having been brought up Lutheran and still vaguely identifying with the faith, I feel compelled to do something exciting about the anniversary.

But my relationship with Luther’s persona is... complex. On the one hand, I appreciate the hard work he’s put into reforming the medieval church (rather more whole-heartedly and less selfishly than that copycat Henry Tudor, I might add) and making the whole Bible accessible to The People (TM). He brought a sense of freedom to northern European Christianity that arguably paved the way for further liberating developments. Less pretentiously, his life and work make a pretty exciting tale. And rather selfishly, considering that a whole line of ancestors on my mother’s father’s side were Protestant clergymen, I’ve got to be grateful he lifted the rule of celibacy or I wouldnt even exist. Cheers, Martin!

On the other hand, there are the Problematic Issues, some of which also paved the way for later developments - in particular the shit he’s written about women and Jews. Doesn’t help much that he wasn’t worse than most people of his time, since most other people of his time had a lot less impact on Later History and aren’t getting celebrated left and (alas) right. He wasn’t any kinder to (leading) Catholics, either, but the blatant anti-semitism has left rather more of a bitter aftertaste. Fuck you, Martin.

All that said, a 500 year anniversary is a once-in-a-lifetime thing and shouldn’t be passed over? So I’ll acknowledge the faults and refrain from adulations, and instead I’ll focus on the sheer level of extra that surrounds this religious schism in some upcoming posts. There’s going to be a Renaissance shitstorm and a silly drawing, for which I apologise in advance.

TL;DR Happy Reformation Day I guess! And Happy Hallowe’en, which we don’t get to celebrate properly here. Can’t have everything!