Muggle and Magical Worlds (Re: Wizarding Holidays)

[absinthe at mad.scientist.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14737

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Margaret Dean <margdean at e...> wrote:
> meboriqua at a... wrote:
> 
> > Okay, in relation to all the postings about how witches and 
wizards
> > get educated when they are young and if they study Muggle 
subjects, I
> > was wondering why the magical world celebrated holidays like 
Halloween
> > and Christmas.  Does magical history cross with Muggle history, or
> > shouldn't they have their own holidays?  Does that mean that all
> > witches and wizards are Christian?  Just a thought.
> 
> Why should they have to be?  It's not like all the =Muggles= who
> celebrate Halloween and Christmas are Christians.  All the
> Halloween and Christmas customs we see being followed at Hogwarts
> are the secular ones, as far as I recall.
> 
> Now that you mention it, though, I think it's rather a pity we
> haven't seen any special wizarding holiday celebrations.  That
> could be =fun=!

They also have Easter holidays at Hogwarts: in GoF, Mrs. Weasley 
sends Easter sweets to them all including Hermione who gets a rather 
small treat in comparison to the rest. Easter Holidays is probably a 
4 day-weekend affair in which students don't generally go home 
(Afterall, it takes a day on the Hogwarts Express to get to King's 
Crossing and another day to get back to Hogwarts, leaving only 2 days 
to do whatever.)

I don't think the Muggle and Magical societies are completely 
separate. I tend to view them as coexisting together, hence their 
many shared cultural nuances: both societies acknowledge their 
geographical location (UK), both societies shares similar foods, etc. 

The Muggle-Magical societies mirror the Amish-"English" societies 
found parts of the US. The Amish co-exist with the "English" (the 
Amish terminology for non-Amish). The Amish keep traditions that may 
seem out-dated to their "English" neighbors, such as using horse-and-
buggies transportation rather than cars, the non-use of electricity 
in their homes, even the schooling of Amish children is separate from 
those of their non-Amish neighbors. Furthermore, like the Magical 
world in Harry Potter, many Amish children do not go to universities 
after completing their Amish schooling. 

However, the Amish and "English" DO interact with each other. 
Gringotts changes Muggle currency for wizarding currency, which leads 
me to suspect that some wizards and witches have a Muggle income. I 
suspect the Wizards and Witches seen by Vernon Dursley walking the 
streets of Little Whinging the day after Voldemort's defeat interact 
with Muggles. Mrs. Figg (if she is indeed Arabella Figg) most likely 
interacts with her Muggle neighbors and has something more than a 
rudimentary knowledge of Muggle society and current events.

The Weasley's and their lack of Muggle daily living skills is a bit 
of a puzzle, but could be explained in that the Burrow is a secluded 
farm, so there isn't any need for the Weasleys to interact with their 
Muggle neighbors. But that too, mirrors societies that coexist: if 
there is no purpose or need to interact with these coexistent 
societies, for some, there is no need to be aware of them. Stan on 
the Knight Bus said that Muggles aren't aware of the Bus because they 
don't notice things, I think the same can be applied to the Wizarding 
community regarding the Muggle community.

:-) Milz