[HPforGrownups] Re: Why Do Wizards Celebrate Christmas?

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 49865


"gkjpo <kristen at sanderson-web.com>" <kristen at sanderson-web.com> wrote:
Easter can also be translated into a general holiday.  Easter egg hunts aren't exactly religious.  

 
[snip] I agree ... 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).


Me:

It's also worth noting that when there is a special event on Christmas evening, it is called the Yule Ball.  Not the Christmas Ball--Yule.  Yule is an ancient pre-Christian winter holiday in the British Isles.  It is in part because of various age-old Yule traditions--such as wassailling (going door to door singing and expecting money or food/drink in return) that we now have some Christmas traditions, such as caroling (the ghosts at Hogwarts are depicted caroling in the corridors--and even the suits of armor, IIRC).  Also, despite the modern use of the English word "Easter" for what is called "Paschal" in a number of Romance languages (or a variation thereof), "Easter" was originally a pagan deity whose feast was celebrated in the spring, and like Yule, worship of Easter went back many, many years in the British Isles to pre-Christian times.  So the use of the phrase "Easter break" may not have any Christian overtones at all, when you think about it, if the original meaning is being used.

 

However, one must also consider Ron's information about the almost constant intermarriage between wizards and Muggles over the centuries, and also consider the steady influx of new Muggle-born witches and wizards into the wizarding world every year.  Through both marriage and Muggle-born magical children getting their letters, significant Muggle influence is flowing into the wizarding world all of the time, and it is not inconceivable that there are many magical folk who celebrate Christmas and Easter in either the religious or secular sense, just as one will find people's observance of these holidays running the gamut from pious to completely areligious in the Muggle world.

 

--Barb

 


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