Why such a point of characters' birthdays?

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 111128

Justine:
> Darnit. The first news article on the site was from March 15th,
and
> the twins' birthday, noted as April 1st on the site, was missed.
> Say it ain't so, Jo!

Stefanie:
>>Is anyone else confused...because I sure am. Mugglenet's article on
the release of the website is marked down as May 15th
(http://www.mugglenet.com/fusion3/fullnews.php?id=1183),
but Justine is right: the first news article on Jo's website is
labelled as March 15th. Checking on the Mugglenet news archives,
there are several articles on March 15th, but certainly none dealing
with the release of a website! Is this just a slip on JKR's site?
(between March and May...I know I've made the mistake before) Any
other confirmations out there?<<

HunterGreen:
The Leaky Cauldron's archives don't have any articles on March 15th 
about the opening of her website either (they do, however, have 
several mentions of it on May 15th). Also, looking into our archives 
(from this list), the first mentions of the site are in May. It must 
be just a mistake on her site.

Stefanie:
>>What do we know of wizarding tradition as far as "national 
holidays" or the like. It would seem that the defeat of Grindelwald 
or the birthday of some famous wizard from days of yore (::cou
[Merlin's birthday] gh::)would be celebrated as a holiday. Perhaps 
they are, but Hogwarts doesn't have off for said days? Harry has 
grown up Muggle and wouldn't really know about these holidays unless 
he was told.<<

HunterGreen:
I'd say that, from what we've seen, there aren't "Wizarding World" 
holidays. Its odd, though, that the only holidays they celebrate 
(Halloween, Christmas, there was a mention of Easter) are also Muggle 
holidays. I doubt Harry could have missed them; even if he didn't 
have a day off from class, teachers would probably mention it. On 
this subject, isn't it odd that Harry always happily celebrates 
Halloween even though its the anniversary of his parents' murder?

Stefanie:
>> In any case, we don't know of anyone, living or dead, who's 
birthday falls between 5/15 and 7/30...holiday or no, the jury's 
still out <<

HunterGreen:
Perhaps there is, but the idea of putting the character's birthdays 
on the site only occurred to her recently. Its seems strange that 
there wouldn't be a single birthday in the entire month of June, nor 
in half of May. I'm of the mind that the birthdays are just 
birthdays, whether the characters are living or dead (as it doesn't 
say 'Happy *24th* Birthday Harry', but 'Happy Birthday Harry'). I 
can't rule out there being birthdays in those months until a year has 
passed since the first birthday listed.