When parents first enroll their students at Providence Classical Christian School, I imagine they are pretty baffled when the holiday most widely known as Halloween rolls around and Providence celebrates Reformation Day on October 31. What on earth is “Reformation Day”?

From age six and onward, every student at Providence knows the story of the Reformation like a textbook. One dark night, a brave monk named Martin Luther took his stand against the Catholic Pope and nailed to a church door ninety-five theses that testified to the many lies the church had told the people. What makes this even more amazing? It would have been perfectly legal to torture and kill him for it. And yes, this happened to fall on October 31st.

Reformation Day is a holiday PCCS celebrates to honor the bravery of Martin Luther with costumes, candy, and fun. But what does Reformation Day mean to me?

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I remember my first Reformation Day at Providence, though my most vivid memory was sadness that I wasn’t the line leader of the annual school parade. I ran around all day in my little princess costume and got lots of candy. Mom received a very tired Pre-K-er at the pick-up line after school. As for Martin Luther, well, that wasn’t so important. I had no clue what a medieval person even was.

But as I grew, so did my understanding. Maybe I still found it very ghastly that the Mary-Janes under my costume weren’t matching (second grade) or that I still didn’t know what a thesis was, but I found Martin Luther quite brave. Reformation Day was a fun tradition for me, even though I spent fourth grade debating about sending a letter to the principal about letting girls fight with boffer swords (as only boys are allowed to).

But today it means so much more to me. There are two other girls in my class who were there with me in Pre-K, and now we have ten girls in the class. As I prepare for this year’s Day, I feel as if I’m revisiting an old friend or looking through a weathered photo album. The unique, fun, and somewhat quirky tradition is part of what defines Providence as a family. If I left Providence, my heart would break. But if Reformation Day was canceled, part of me would die.

A man who took a small step for man made a giant leap for mankind with only a hammer and some nails. If Martin Luther looked down from Heaven right now to see people celebrating Christ and bonding because of him, I imagine he would smile.