Reformation Day and All Saints' Day

The last school day in October was on Thursday,
the 28th of October. One of the fourth grades
that I work with was finishing their plant
project. They grew grass from seeds.
They had kept certain conditions (such as
water or light) from their seeds and
recorded how their seeds grew.



The other fourth grade had a day off from the
English. Their teacher had divided the class into
groups. Each group was to make its own scarecrow.
I wish that I had room to show all of the scarecrows.
It was a great project for working together and being
original.



The last period of the day was spent in a special
church service for the students. The subject was
Reformation Day. A choir sang some songs, including
“Lord I Lift Your Name on High, complete with hand
motions. Then the children had a holiday
Friday, Monday and Tuesday for All Saints Day.



During the Sunday church service,
the seventh grade class had a great original
play about Martin Luther’s nailing the 95
thesis’s on the church door. I cannot think
of a better way to teach about the beginning
of the Reformation than having the students act it out.



And then there was All Saints’ Day,
Monday, 1st of November. This is a state holiday.
The whole weekend is a time for families
to gather at their grandparents or parents’ graves.
It is in some ways similar to the Day of the Dead.
For weeks, flowers and candles have been sold.





This is the day that families go to the cemeteries.
They weed and clean up around the grave of
their loved one(s). They take the old flowers,
arrangements and candles away. These are
replaced with new arrangements and candles are lit.





Practically every grave in the newer part of
the cemetery had flowers on it.
The flowers were as far as the eye could see.



After you take care of your family graves, they you go to the graves of persons special to you. This is the grave of Pastor Jan Bohdon Hrobon, the father of Pastor Jan Hrobon of the Evangelical Church in Martin, and Bohdon Hrobon, the founder of the Bible School.

Besides the candles on the graves, there were
a couple of locations in the cemetery that
more candles were lit. My guess is that these
are lit in memory of loved ones who are
buried elsewhere.

On the Second of November, Gary and I went to a small town of Ružomberok.
(That is another story.) On the way back, we passed by a couple of cemeteries.
It was after dark and the candles were still lit and they were spectacular.

An interesting side note for me is that this is a holiday that the Communist
Regime would allow. For some reason, they did not associate it with the
Church.