sacrilege / Animagic again / magical education system / entertainment

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

No: HPFGUIDX 40621

Pam of Scotland wrote:

<< I'm not sure why you think this scene is sacriligeous? Doesn't 
sacrilege refer to the misuse of some religious or consecrated ground, 
building or artefact? >>

Or symbol or ritual. In the graveyard scene, Voldemort abuses some 
consecrated Christian symbolic rituals.

<< As noted in another thread, I don't have GoF here but I don't 
think it's ever occurred to me that the graveyard is in any way 
consecrated ground. In this part of the west of Scotland there are 
very few churches with churchyards that will still take burials. Many, 
many churches have been closed and the grounds and buildings 
deconsecrated. (snip) More likely the old churchyard is now a 
flattened piece of grass with interesting headstones set into the 
boundary wall. >>

The grave markers were still in that graveyard: Harry was tied to 
one, hid from curses behind another. I thought that the graves and 
markers were always removed when they deconsecrate a graveyard? Btw, 
according to a nitpicker I met, the difference between 'graveyard' 
and 'cemetary' is that a 'graveyard' must be attached to a church. I 
think he got it confused with 'churchyard'.

<< One corner of it is devoted to the burial of deceased Roman 
Catholic nuns from the local convent but I do not think any part of 
this graveyard is consecrated ground. >>

Can a Catholic answer if Catholics are bured in consecrated ground? 
Can an Anglican (Little Hangleton has been decided to be in England 
not Scotland) answer if Anglicans are buried in consecrated 
ground?

<< It assumes that Voldemort had the Christian sacraments somewher
e in his head - there's no evidence for that. >>

Hmm. I thought it only assumes that JKR had the Christian sacraments 
somewhere in *her* head. 

Kangasboy (may I call you Roo?) wrote:

<< Does the wizard's choice influence their animagus form? Or is 
there only one, innate animagus form possible? >>

JKR said that the wizard cannot choose his/her animagus form, but 
rather it is based on hiser personality. See my posts #38420 and 
#39272 for citations. *HOWEVER* I have never heard of any wizard who 
became an Animagus then going through the whole process again in hope 
of getting an additional animal form, so I don't know what would 
happen if one did try. Could he/she have another innate animagus 
form? 

Another thing I wonder is, if Remus became an Animagus, could he 
avoid his werewolf transformation and its accompanying madness by 
transforming into his animal just before the scheduled time for his 
transformation or just after his transformation?

Vinny good privacy / Vinny general practioner wrote:

<< So, about the magical education system. Does the middle-class 
wizarding family have an option besides sending their progeny to an 
expensive private school? >>

Even tho' JKR's depiction of Hogwarts is based on expensive private 
schools, we don't know that Hogwarts IS an expensive private school. 
We *do* know that the impoverished Weasleys are sending a passel of 
children there, and that JKR said in an interview that Hogwarts is 
the only wizarding school in the British Isles, and that Fudge speaks 
to Dumbledore in a way that suggests that he, as Minister of Magic, 
has some power over the Headmaster of Hogwarts. (GoF. ch: The Parting 
of the Ways, Fudge: "Now see here, Dumbledore,"..."I've always given 
you free rein, always." ... "There aren't many who'd have let you 
hire werewolves, or keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach your 
students, without reference to the Ministry.") 

So it is possible that Hogwarts is a public school in the USA sense, 
funded and commanded by the government, with the Board of Governors 
as an elected or appointed School Board. It is also possible that 
Hogwarts is NOT funded by the government, but charges no tuition, not 
even room & board, because it has such a large endowment that has had 
1000 years to grow since the Founders.

<< what about elementary education? There doesn't seem to be much 
general education going on at Hogwarts, i.e. reading and mathematics; 
it seems to be a big vocational school. They must go somewhere to 
learn how to read and write and do math? >>

Besides home-schooling (by parents or tutors), there could also be 
small, local, wizarding primary schools. I imagine that primary 
education would be a good career for witches who HAVE to have paid 
employment but don't want to spend more time away from their own 
children than absolutely necessary; a very small school could even be 
located IN the teacher's own home. 

<< And what about higher education or university? Is it normal to go 
straight from high (secondary) school to your job? >>

See my post #40214.

Pam of Scotland wrote:

<< I like to think that these teachers are the ones who spot children 
like Hermione (muggle born) and perhaps even influence the way their 
mental abilities develop. >>

Such a teacher may have helped Hermione and her family, and Colin and 
Dennis Creevey and their dad the milkman, to cope with the Strange 
Things that happened when the children got emotional, but didn't need 
to 'spot' them: JKR said in an interview long ago that there is a 
magic quill that writes down the name of every magic child born in 
the UK. Once a year, McGonagall looks in the quill's book for all the 
children that 'are' 11 that 'year' and addresses Hogwarts admission 
letters to them. I am worried how such a system could deal with 
Muggle-born magic children who emigrated with their parents to UK 
after birth but before age 11.

The Random Monkey wrote that her

<< car gets sixty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way she likes 
it! >>

Recently, in the line of work, I searched the Web and found that a 
'chain' is either 100 feet or 66 feet and a 'rod' is 5.5 yards ... 
which is pretty clearly 1/4 of the 22 yard chain, which in turn is 
1/80 of a mile, therefore 1/10 of a furlong. That all fits together 
very logically, except the 1/10 part ... Anyway, I passed this on to 
my boss in an e-mail with the Title line: "Chains and Rods". Then I 
was afraid that she would see that title and think it was some kind 
of BDSM porn spam. So I asked her the next day, and she (she is such 
an innocent!) said she had thought that title referred to FISHING! 

Squeak!Pip wrote:

<< James and Lily may have had Harry baptised (or christened), thus 
acquiring Sirius as godparent, because they wanted pretty family 
pictures, or because the ceremony had a genuine spiritual meaning to 
them. >>

Or had Harry named or dedicated or blessed in a baby naming ceremony 
of some ancient wizarding religion that also involves a godparent.

Or just taught him to refer to their best friend as his godfather, 
as my parents taught me to refer to my mother's best friend from 
college, my Auntie Dorothy, as my godmother, even tho' none of us 
were Christians and I was not christened.

I believe that there is a lot of Anglican background in the British 
wizarding world and some pureblood wizarding folk who are devout 
Christians (I wrote a fic in which Cedric Diggory's mother finds a 
bit of comfort from her Christian faith), but I don't think the word 
'godfather' is evidence. 

<< you fill in a (long) form about your family income or lack 
thereof. >>

This MIGHT be one thing that wizarding folk have easier than Muggles: 
it seems that everyone knows everyone in the wizarding world, so the 
Weasleys would have only to sign up their names and their school 
children's names on a list and all the Board of Governors (or whoever 
decides) would say: "Oh, Arthur and Molly! As poor as church-mice, 
and all those children. They surely do need the money." Even if not 
everyone knows everyone, maybe they would just have to write: "My 
children need financial aid to attend Hogwarts" with one of those 
Anti-Cheating Quills mentioned in canon...

Eton Buffy wrote:

<< The wizarding world seems to lack something major, its own form of 
entertainment. They don't have movie stars, or tv stars, though they 
do seem to have radio, even if it's not listened to at Hogwarts (a 
popular band played at the Christmas dance in Gob of Fire). So why 
the lack of wizarding entertainment? >>

I think that they have plenty of entertainment, at least outside of 
Hogwarts, just that it's LIVE entertainment. I believe that the 
music, drama, quiz shows, etc on wizarding Wireless Network are 
performed live on radio, and that wizarding folk go out to see live 
concerts and theatre and so on. (And Quidditch matches.) They have 
Floo and Apparation, so the 'going out' part would be easier for them 
than for us. 

I suppose the wizarding population of the island of Britain is around 
20,000. So if the biggest singing star, apparently Celestina Warbeck, 
performed in a 1000-seat hall (which is considered a fairly small 
hall by Muggle standards), she could sing to the whole wizarding 
population in 20 shows. 

Since not the whole wizarding population wants to hear Celestina 
Warbeck live every 20 days, surely those who want to hear her live 
once a week would be able to do so. I'm sure there would be plenty of 
other choices, bands or singers or plays performing in bars, 
bookshops, people's living rooms, and the large supply of 
entertainment versus limited demand would hold prices down to where 
you'd have to be as poor as a Weasley for the admission cost to be 
painful.

The reason for the lack of sound recording and moving image 
broadcasting is because wizarding technology has fallen behind Muggle 
technology. The Wizarding Wireless Network is clearly an attempt to 
imitate Muggle wireless. Because Muggle wireless is called 'wireless' 
by comparison to telegraphy, which is called "wire". The wizards 
couldn't come up with the name 'wireless' on their own, because they 
didn't have 'wire' to compare it to.