[HPforGrownups] Not So Secular Potterverse

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 34228

At 10:46 PM -0500 1/27/02, IAmLordCassandra at aol.com wrote:
>Jenny from ravenclaw writes:
>
><major snipping>
>
>>  Considering that Christmas
>>  and Easter are specifically religious holidays, the fact remains that
>>  the Potterverse is overwhelmingly a Christian one.  Not Jewish,
>  > Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist.  Christian.

It's certainly of Christendom - the only religious echoes we see are 
Christian ones.  But they seem to be "culturally" Christian, rather 
than theologically so.  Not that that's much consolation to those of 
us who are not Christian either culturally or theologically . . .

>Also, many of the traditions of Christmas and Halloween are taken from pagan
>rituals.

Well, they're pre-Christian traditions attached to the various 
solstice festivals.  Some of them are no more specifically Pagan than 
stringing popcorn and cranberries is specifically Christian; they're 
just things people do/did for the holidays.

>Halloween, from what I understand-is majorly pagan and
>American. At least I've assumed the going door to door/dressing up/candy deal
>was American. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

Irish-American, yes.  Halloween itself is a mixture of Pagan, 
Christian, and folk traditions.  The Pagan festival is properly 
called Samhain, at least by most of us.

*wrenching this back to vaguely on topic*  Most of the Halloween 
celebrations in the books seem to focus on the folk traditions of 
Halloween, rather than the religious ones on either side.  The 
rumored dancing skeletons from CoS, for instance, remind me more of 
El Dia de los Muertos than anything strictly Pagan.  Pumpkin is a New 
World vegetable as well; the association of pumpkins with Halloween 
is Irish-American and well postdates the advent of Christendom, and 
it's the most consistent association with Halloween in the books, as 
far as I can tell.

Really, the most Samhain-y thing Harry and company do on Halloween in 
the books is eat and drink with the spirits of the dead - and they 
really don't eat or drink much, if anything, at Nearly Headless 
Nick's deathday party.

-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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