[HPforGrownups] Significance of names...... again.

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 52886

megalynn44 wrote:

>Ok so this brought up some questions. Have these characters [Parvati & 
>Nagini] turned up in other cultures or are they strictly Hindu?

Yes, they're strictly Hindi deities, but considering most Oriental 
religions have some common ancestry, there are probably parallels 
throughout. AFAIK the names themselves have no significance outside Hinduism.

>How many cultures, religions, and mythes has JKR used to  create names and 
>creatures in the WW?

We'll probably never know. :-) Roman, Greek and Celtic mythologies are up 
there, as are Wicca, Christianity and just about every major belief system 
there is (and some minor ones).

>Is she trying to make a point by drawing from every culture (or as many as 
>she can) to create the WW?

My view is that the (British) WW more or less mirrors the mix of real 
British society. Therefore the mixtures of names and cultural traditions 
will be mirrored as well. Of course, JKR isn't writing a sociological 
treatise with some kind of statistical representation of all segments of 
our society, so the mirror is a little distorted. But the flavour is 
certainly there.

I'm sure that wizarding society in other countries reflects the real world 
society around them, but as JKR's story happens to take place on this 
island, I doubt we'll see much of those other societies. We've had a small 
flavour of this with the mentions of Middle Eastern countries preferring 
flying carpets to broomsticks - they have their traditions, we have ours.

Living in cosmopolitan cities as JKR has done at various stages in her life 
(although interestingly she was brought up in a very "white" part of 
England) it's impossible to ignore elements of other cultures (including 
their religions and deities). Whilst (say) Americans may encounter Hindu 
symbolism for the first time in the Potter books, I for instance take it 
for granted as I see it every day of the week. Some of us will be less 
conversant than others with some of the details of our neighbours' belief 
systems, but it really is difficult to escape, especially if like JKR, one 
keeps one's eyes open.

>Does this signify that the WW is everywhere (spread out through the entire 
>world and it's entire history) yet still so well connected it resembles a 
>tight nit
>community?

As I see it, absolutely. The WW might be seen as a parallel society to 
ours: wizards have things in common with each other which they don't with 
us Muggles (namely a reliance on magic rather than technology) but at the 
same time, wizards in a particular geographic location have cultural ties 
with the local Muggle communities in order not too stick out *too* much. 
I'm sure that the Middle-Eastern equivalent of Hogwarts isn't a Medieval 
castle next to a lake, but a squat white building in the somewhere in order 
not to look out of place in its surroundings.

Similarly, different magical traditions and (real-world) lore is connected 
with some geographical areas more than others. For instance, we have 
elements of voodooistic "transference magic", northern European 
plant/potions-based magic, middle eastern cabalistic/incantation-based 
stuff and other kinds, such as use of wands (which AFAIK comes from the Far 
East) and magical implements and tools (Time Turners, Put Outers, etc) 
which are another tradition entirely, and perhaps more a reflection of our 
technological age.

All in all, it's a very interesting and eclectic mix.

>There is a growing school of thought that no one religion  is more 
>significant. That they are all interconnected. Does this  maybe translate 
>to wizarding culture?

Absolutely. There is no mention of religion or gods of any kind throughout 
the books, except for an all-pervading belief in what is good and bad. The 
wizarding community accepts the definite existence of an after-life though, 
which is perhaps interesting in the absence of any god-head.

>I'm not sure if I am wording these properly, but I will rewword if the 
>responses aren't what i was looking for.

Well, I'm not sure if I understood your questions correctly either, but 
I've done my best to answer how I feel the questions I saw should be answered.

<snip>

--
GulPlum AKA Richard, who REALLY should be giving the HPFGU world a break 
this evening...