Clarification On Terminology - Had Details

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 106776

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <asian_lovr2 at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "huntergreen_3" <patientx3 at a...>
> wrote:
> > HunterGreen:
> > In this same vein, what on earth is a hag? There also obviously 
> > identifiable from witches, but what is the difference? I've always 
> > wondered that. I know its slang meaning, but it clearly has a 
> > different context here.
 
> Asian_lovr2:
> 
> First and foremost, Hags are hideously ugly and always female.
> Generally, they are considered magical beings, and are sometimes
> viewed as female demons. One key factor should be noted; their
> preferred food, at least in fairytales, is little children.
> 
> That's about all I've got on them.
> 
> Steve/asian_lovr2

Asian_lovr2:

I knew this had been discussed before, and I happened to stumble
across it in an old post.

From:  Jennifer Boggess Ramon <boggles at e...>
Date:  Sat Jul 27, 2002  11:37 pm
Subject:  Re: [HPforGrownups] Warlock or Wizard
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/41816

---...in part...---
In the first post, Catherine continued:

>Also, what exactly is a hag?

Hags are monstrous women in the folktales of England and parts of
Europe. Sometimes they are the wives of trolls or giants; other
times they live on their own, often in bogs or swampy wooded areas,
but sometimes by the sea. They usually look ugly, old, and hunched,
but are much stronger than they look. Their stories usually involve
them threatening to eat children, although in the cases where they
are trollwives, they sometimes let the children escape their husbands
instead. They are usually, but not always, green, and they have
gotten mixed up in the post-industrial mind with witches; the typical
depiction of a Halloween "witch", with green skin and warts, is taken
from the greenhag.

They are sometimes rumored to climb onto the shoulders of sleeping
men and ride them, making them gallop across fields and over hills in
their sleep. The tired victim is described as "hag-rid". Hmmm . . .
;) 

(See http://califia.hispeed.com/Folklore/lecture10c.htm for a
brief description of hag-riding.)

Hags are associated with winter in Celtic folklore, although I'm not
entirely sure why. This may be one reason why the hag in the Leaky
Cauldron in PoA is wearing "a thick woolen balaclava," in addition to
hiding her face.
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Steve/asian_lovr2