John Knox and Reformation Day

31st October is Reformation Day. Today is the 497th anniversary of Martin Luther pinning his 95 theses to the door of Wittenburg Church. Apparently, there is some debate as to whether the theses were actually pinned to the door but they supposedly were sent out around this date.

We celebrated Reformation Day thinking not about Martin Luther but the Scottish reformer, John Knox. I had recently purchased the biography of John Knox by Simonetta Carr in the Christian biographies for Young Readers series.

These are beautiful books with plenty of colour illustrations, a time line, map and additional notes. I have certainly learned much from these books. I have recently acquired all the books in the series and am slowly looking through them. They will be given to the children, even more slowly, on suitable occasions so they can be savoured and explored properly. I am impressed with the quality of the books that I have seen so far. The John Knox biography has a recommended age from 7 to 12. The lower age is probably correct but adults who are not historians would also enjoy and learn from these books.

The children had some friends round so we decided to have a John Knox treasure hunt. The eleven questions were all around the life of John Knox-the correct answer leading to the next clue. There were also misleading directions for incorrect answers. This is real life so there were some children who didn't get the answer quite right so looked carefully in the wrong place! The tea towel drawer did have a clue

and the treasure was in the microwave.

We made shortbread to fit with the Scottish theme.

The idea was to dip the shortbread in melted chocolate but I have to report that the shortbread collapsed on any attempts at dipping so it had dollops of chocolate instead. It wasn't exactly the Great British Bake Off but the shortbread did disappear!

I'm a bit embarrassed to report that we played musical galleys. John Knox was a galley slave for seventeen months, rowing for the French. The game was well received and allowed some energy expenditure but I did wonder whether it was in poor taste.

Do you celebrate Reformation Day and how do you celebrate?

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