October

October was once regarded as a sacred month, during which marriages were common amongst the nobility and commoners alike. Several public holidays and festivals also fall in October. For instance, 31 October is both Halloween and Reformation Day. On this day in 1517, Martin Luther published his 95 Theses against the sale of indulgences in Wittenberg, thereby heralding the Reformation. In 19th century Prussia, the Stein-Hardenberg reforms were launched in the October Edict published on 9 October 1807. This “revolution from above” abolished a raft of noble privileges and ended serfdom. A few years later, the first Oktoberfest took place in Munich on 17 October 1810. Its start date was later moved to September and it developed into the world’s largest festival. In one of the most positive developments in German history, 16 million East Germans joined the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990, a date since celebrated as the Day of National Unity.