The government decided in March that Reformation Day would not be marked with a high-profile national ceremony this year, due to cost cutting.

However, the Slovenian Protestant Association Primož Trubar held a ceremony in Ljubljana's arts centre Cankarjev dom on the eve of the bank holiday, with President Danilo Türk as the keynote speaker.

The Reformation movement in Slovenia brought the country Protestant reforms, following the example of Martin Luther in Germany.

The most prominent Slovenian Reformist was Primož Trubar (1508-1586), who wrote over 25 books, among them "Cathecism" (1550), the first book in Slovenian. "Cathecism", which was also the first printed Slovenian book, was complemented by Trubar's spelling book "Abecedarium".

Meanwhile, the translation of the Bible, which was published by priest Jurij Dalmatin (1547-1589) in Wittenberg in 1584, is considered the highlight of Slovenian Protestantism by many scholars.

Reformation also gave Slovenians their first spelling manual, which was however written in Latin. Adam Bohorič (1520-1598), who published "Articae horulae succisivae" in 1584, set the writing standard for the next 200 years. The book only got its Slovenian translation in 1987.

Reformation Day has been observed in Slovenia as a bank holiday since 1992. According to the 2002 census, 14,736 people or 0.8% of Slovenia's two-million population are Protestant. The majority live in the northeastern region of Prekmurje.