small wonderings

[bess_va at lycos.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20734


--- In HPforGrownups at y..., dfrankis at d... wrote:

> 2) I've always thought the MOM ban must be subject to some sort of 
parental override in wizarding households.  They are all familiar 
with broomstick riding, for example (or doesn't this count?). 

I wondered that myself, about broomstick riding (otherwise kids 
wouldn't get to play quidditch), using a portkey (Quidditch Cup), Floo 
powder, etc.  But still, F & G would have had to put an engorgement 
charm on the toffee sometime during the summer, unless they finished 
that part of the "project" the previous year at Hogwarts. 

> I don't believe in the significance of a godmother particularly.  
Practice varies by religious belief and afiliation, but in 
mainstream (ie non-religious) English culture, an the absence of 
brothers and sisters (Petunia might have turned it down), best friends 
are asked. 

Of course this begs the question, would Lily have even asked Petunia? 
This makes me curious; cause in many non-religious US households or  
non-Roman Catholic or Episcopal households you don't usually *get* a 
godparent (do Presbyterians or Lutherans have godparents?).  Most 
plain vanilla protestant denominations here don't have "godparents"; 
for many, it's considered the entire congregation's respnsibility to 
uphold a childs religious education.  I don't know about Jewish or 
Muslim or Hindu or Buddist ideas on this subject.  If you're not 
Catholic or Episcopalian, and you have a "godparent" it's often what I 
referred to before, a close family friend, an honorific "aunt" or 
"uncle", who has no legal or religious authority, unless they have 
been designated "guardian" in the parent's will.  That's why I was 
wondering why JKR called Sirius Harry's "godfather".  If it's not a 
religious designation, then she'd get the same milage by using the 
term "best friend".