Calendars was Re: biggest SPOILER

[Shirley]

No: HPFGUIDX 109747

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Eustace_Scrubb" <dk59us at y...> 
wrote:
> arielock2001 wrote:
> > >><snip>
> > >>>Born as the seventh month dies:
> > >>>
> 
> Jem wrote:
> > If it was an astrological calendar, then wouldn't we be looking 
for 
> > someone born in the middle of October?
> > If it was a Hebrew calendar we'd be looking in April.
> > If it was a Celtic calendar, wouldn't we be looking in May?  
Isn't 
> > Samhain the New Year?
> > If it was Chinese--I have no idea.



Shirley:
LOL!!  I cracked up when I read this.  So, apparently (tongue firmly 
in cheek, here), we could potentially be looking at just about any 
month of the year.....  ;-)

 
> Now Eustace_Scrubb:
> Indeed, a few months ago (May?  the inscrutable archives would tell)
> when the Cuaron interview mentioning the graveyard that had to be
> removed from the adaptation-in-a-medium-that-must-not-be-named 


Shirley, again:
ROFLMAO (again)!!  I don't know how you kept track of your dashes in 
typing that, but that was very amusing (not to mention, a great way 
to get around the forbidden topic).

Eustace_Scrubb finishes his thought:
first
> came up, JKR stated that Hogwarts was on an ancient Celtic site.  
This
> led to a number of posts theorizing that the Celtic seventh month,
> May, was the one referred to in the prophecy.
> 
> My feeling about that also applies to the possibility of September
> being the month referred to in the prophecy.  We have no evidence 
that
> the wizarding world, at least in the UK as JKR has described it,
> follows a calendar that differs in any significant way from that of
> the  surrounding muggles (except of course that September 1 is 
always
> a Sunday).  While it is absolutely true that other calendars have 
been
> used in the UK in other time periods and in other languages, the
> prophecy was made in the late 20th century and it was delivered in
> English.  I believe the meaning in those carefully chosen words must
> be found in English as well (and yes, of course, that meaning will 
be
> translated _into_ numerous languages later).
> 
> Now, I agree that JKR knows her Latin and also her Celtic mythology
> and she has and will make use of elements of both in weaving her
> story.  However, I don't think she will hang a major plot twist on 
an
> archaic Latin meaning of a modern English proper noun.
> 
> That's not to say that there aren't a number of interesting
> suggestions  that were included in the original post that may play a
> role in the conclusion of the series--surely Peter Pettigrew will 
turn
> out to be crucial.  Maybe Harry will be unable to succeed in his
> appointed task without Pettigrew fufilling his life debt to Harry
> first.  If we do indeed find out more about "our rat-like friend" in
> the 6th book as promised by JKR, it may be that Peter will have done
> his part and suffered his fate before we get to book 7.
> 

Shirley:
which would be fine with me; I am just *not* a Peter fan.  I dislike 
Peter so much that I really *don't* want him to be so crucial to the 
conclusion of the story.  I know that we have often seen traitors 
redeem themselves in many literary plots, but I'm not sure I've ever 
read about a turnaround this drastic (not that I'm so well-read that 
I've read *everything*, by any means!).


> So while I am skeptical about the central premise of the theory, 
keep
> the theories coming!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Eustace_Scrubb


Shirley:
However, I'd also like to point out that the term "life debt" is not 
one that has ever been used in canon.  So, while we all understand 
that Peter owes his life to Harry (for stopping Lupin and Sirius from 
killing him (as he deserved, IMO)), we still don't really *know* what 
that "debt" means in the wizarding world.  Hopefully that will be one 
of the things we learn in the next book (may it come out soon).

But, of course, that's what makes all of our speculation so much fun!

Shirley, wishing she could be as creative as some of you guys are....