Why Do Wizards Celebrate Christmas?

[gkjpo <kristen@sanderson-web.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49863

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve <bboy_mn at y...>" 
<bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> Oddly, I have to wonder why you asked about Christmas which has 
become
> a worldwide non-religious year end celebration, but didn't ask about
> Easter. The school, Hogwarts, always has an Easter break. There 
really
> is no way to convert Easter into a general purpose holiday. 
> 

Ahem...  "Here comes Peter Cottontail...hopping down the bunny 
trail...hippity hoppity Easter's on its way!" :) :)

Easter can also be translated into a general holiday.  Easter egg 
hunts aren't exactly religious.  


> Conclusion, they celebrate Christmas and Easter because they are
> Christians in a Christian dominated world.
> 

Perhaps.  I agree with you that they celebrate more in the general 
sense than any specifically religious sense.  But, it's not a 
religious school, so I would expect that they wouldn't be able to 
have any religion-specific celebrations anyway.  I don't know about 
schools in Britian, but in the US it is customary to have time off 
around Christmas and the beginning of spring (not necessarily right 
at Easter), so Hogwarts is consistent with what I'm used to (in the 
US).

Out of curiosity, do all versions of the book refer to the spring 
break as the "Easter holidays"?

Kristen