FAT; Location of Durmstrang (near Kandalaksa?)

[pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no]

No: HPFGUIDX 20286

--- Susan <Schlobin at aol.com> wrote:
> One of my friends, Rich, who is a professor at the University
> of Michigan School of Social Work gave me permission to post
> these comments to this list
> 
> "I love the Harry Potter books too. 
> But anyway, something that really bugs me about the books is
> her depiction of obesity and her equating it with sloth, greed,
> and narrow-mindedness (her depiction of Harry's cousin). I
> think that continues to promote intolerance and mistreatment
> based on weight. I feel these wildly popular books will not do
> much for kids who are bullied and ostracized based on weight.
> On the who's who in Harry Potter website, notice the
> description of Dudley: "Dudley Dursley: Harry's chubby, spoiled
> and bratty cousin, also a Muggle."  I bet nine of out ten kids
> would start with a description of Dudley's weight as his
> defining characteristic."
> 
> I brought up Hagrid and Molly and noted that Mrs. Malfoy is
> thin, but still think that this is an issue worth discussing...
> 
> Susan

One further person noted as having some weight to him, without being 
viewed as evil or vicious, is Ernie MacMillan, who in CoS is 
described as "stout", and having "pudgy hands".

--- Catherine <catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., koinonia02 at y... wrote:
> > Where is Durmstrang?  Could it be somewhere around Romania,
> > Poland, Bulgaria? Seems to be very close to areas that are
> > filled with vampire folklore.
> > 
> > Krum's father spoke in Bulgarian.
> 
> I've wondered about this too, and am not sure.  I initially
> assumed that it was somewhere in Eastern Europe,  but when
> they have started talking about mountains and glaciers, I
> thought that perhaps it could be somewhere in Scandinavia.

Durmstrang is located in Northern continental Europe, as indicated by 
the descriptions of climate and geography that were given in GoF.  At 
a book-reading in Glasgow some thousands messages ago, JKR stated 
that she thought Durmstrang was in the extreme North of Norway or 
Sweden, and Beauxbatons was in the South of France.  Being Norwegian 
myself, and living in the North of Norway, I was less than thrilled 
with JKR's revelation.  Luckily, she proceeded to modify her 
statement, saying that she wasn't sure, since there were so many 
protective charms surrounding the two schools.

See the following messages for details:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/6494
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/6497
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/6501

Myself, I had a theory, prior to above-mentioned book-reading, that 
Durmstrang was somewhere near Kandalakša, which is a city/town in the 
inner end of the Kandalakša Bay, which branches off Westwards from 
the White Sea.  This is all on the Kola peninsula, in the extreme 
Northwest of mainland Russia, and the geography (near open ocean, 
mountains, lakes, cold climate) fits.  I am still somewhat partial to 
this theory, as it fits the implied cultural connections of 
Durmstrang far better than does a location in Norway or Sweden.  I 
made a more detailed post about this, as rhodhry at yahoo.no, some time 
prior to JKR's book-reading; the message, and a related message which 
was a reply in the abovementioned thread, can be found at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/5961
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/6534

A possible explanation for placing a seemingly German-inspired school 
with Slavic clientele in the North of Scandinavia, may be that the 
school originally was founded in the Teutonic states, on the Baltic 
coast of present-day Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but then 
was forced to flee that location in the face of persecution by the 
Teutonic Order.  Maybe it even was founded before the Teutonic 
Crusades in that area, and the creation of the Teutonic States was 
what brought about the relocation.

Best regards
Christian Stubø
(delurking briefly)