An Reformation Day, October 31, the people of Lower Saxony and Thuringia are allowed to sleep in. On Tuesday, November 1st and All Saints’ Day, the neighbors from North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Bavaria are blue. Meanwhile, in Hesse, there is no joy about a day off.
Here it is important to be able to indulge, because: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, manservant, maidservant, ox, donkey or anything that your neighbor has.” This is how Martin Luther translated the Tenth Commandment of the Bible from Latin, who laid the foundation for the Reformation and Protestantism with his theses on the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.
Hesse only celebrated October 31 as a public holiday in honor of Luther, just like the rest of the republic did in 2017 – on the Reformation anniversary 500 years after the monk hit the nail on the head. Since then, some of the federal states that have few public holidays in comparison and see themselves as Protestant have regularly celebrated Reformation Day as a public holiday: Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Bremen. With the exception of the Day of German Unity, which is celebrated nationwide, the regulation of public holiday law in Germany is the responsibility of the federal states.
Introduction of another public holiday not planned
“In Hesse, around 35 percent of the people were Protestant in 2017 and the population was therefore not predominantly Protestant. On this basis, the state government has not decided to generally introduce Reformation Day as another public holiday,” explains Benjamin Crisolli, spokesman for the Hessian Ministry of the Interior and Sport. According to him, All Saints’ Day was still a public holiday in some Catholic communities in this country until 1952. However, it was abolished in the interests of equal treatment for all Hessians, together with the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Hesse is not enough evangelical for Reformation Day, not Catholic enough for All Saints’ Day. In the past, the state parliament therefore received ideas as to which public holidays could be introduced instead. May 8th as the day of liberation from National Socialism or December 1st to commemorate the referendum on the constitution were discussed.
“The state government rejected the introduction of May 8th as a public holiday, above all, because May 8th has no specific connection to Hesse,” the ministry justified its decision. “The state government saw no need to introduce December 1st as a holiday to commemorate the referendum on the Hessian constitution.” At least the importance of the event can also be appropriately commemorated without having the corresponding day off.
The spokesman for the ministry also notes: “There are currently no plans to introduce another public holiday.” The neighboring countries can therefore look forward to strolling through Hesse’s shopping streets on October 31st or November 1st while theirs is closed stay.
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