Muggle Practices/Religion/Weasley practices

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 79015

Thus wrote bboy_mn (Steve):
 
> Exactly how old do you think Christmas is? 100 years? 500 years?
> 1,000 years? No. Try 1,650 years old. 
<snip>

Actually, it's a little older than that, as an "official" thing, but 
not by much.  Having been raised by theologian, I'm pretty well 
versed in this ... your list ignored some Coptic and Syrian 
citations, if memory serves.  So, please, don't leap to conclusions 
about what I might or might not know.

bboy_mn continued:

> Why is it so hard to believe that wizards might have heard about it?
> True Christmas and Easter were ancient pagan holidays that EVOLVED
> into the current Christian holidays, but why can't you believe the
> wizards evolved their tradition too. 
<snip>
> I see no reason why the ancient pagen rites of wizards and witches
> would not have evolved with the advent, introduction, and wide
> spread acceptance of Christianity. Remember that wizards and
> witches have not always been separated from Muggles. They have
> gone through cycles of being integrated and separated. Certainly,
> a 1650 year old tradition could have easily crept into their
> culture. 
<snip>

I don't find it hard at all to believe this.  I would EXPECT it to be 
the case.  The problems is that the Wizarding World would surely 
retain more identification of pagan or "classically" magical rites, 
astronomical events, etc., as such, were such of real significance to 
that WW.  Instead, we find the thin slice of the WW we see 
celebrating events that are identifiably Christian in origin.  It 
would also seem logical for the WW to start a slow reversion back to 
more classically magical celebrations and observances (after all, not 
all those assorted events and rites were "celebrated," as in some 
regions and religions they could get a little bloody) as the divide 
between the WW and the Muggle World widened ... regardless of how old 
or recent that divide may in canon be.

The magic of the JKR WW is, so far as we've seen, devoid of 
invocation of spirit outside one's self and one's wand.  Some things 
must be done at precise lunar times, of course, but there has been no 
invocation of "The Goddess," or of spirits, or demons, etc.  The only 
spirits we've seen are ghosts, a poltergeist and lots of booze.  (How 
ANY creature could live drinking nothing but single malt scotch is 
beyond me.  You've GOT to have some cognac and port, once in a while, 
not to mention the occasional Cajun Bloody Mary.)  On the other hand, 
we have those lyrics ... "God rest ye merry hippogriffs ..." and "O 
Come All ye Faithful ..." (Forgive me if I got the lyrics a little 
off ... no text at hand ...)  Thus, I don't see how pagan beliefs, 
holy days, rites, etc., got into this.

I stand by my earlier comment that to me, religion has really nothing 
to do with this fictional WW, apart from being part of the cultural 
heritage that makes it a bit more familiar to the reader than a world 
devoid of such references.  I see Christmas, Easter and such as being 
present more to show the flow of time than as making any statement 
either way.


Richard