I saw (more than) three ships ...

[deborahhbbrd]

No: HPFGUIDX 128519

Some fascinating discussions recently, on Christmas as well as Harry's
putative love life... . Someoneofsomeplace, for instance, suggests
that Susan Bones would be a good choice for Harry, in her capacity as
a pleasant, sensible girl. True, but ... why do I not hear gypsy
violins? In RL, wouldn't he be more likely to be attracted to someone
dressed in black with multiple body piercings and a sulky expression,
especially if she found him devastatingly attractive and a good
kisser? Not as a partner for life, but in his current mood and
situation I think this sort of chick would cheer him up no end, beside
opening up lots of storyline possibilities! Which a romantic
entanglement with Hermione or Ginny - even with Luna - would not;
they're already familiar parts of the story.

I've been following the Christmas/Christian thread with interest, too.
No snips, I promise ...

Britain is a multicultural country. The more versions of religion -
the more available gods, if you like - there are, the more likely
people are to treat them all pretty much the same. With respect,
mostly, but without any sense of loss or exclusion from the religious
experience, which the vast majority of them do not share. And the WW
is a very British one. (My cousins for instance used to go
carol-singing every Christmas as young men and never believed a word
of what they sang; just enjoyed the experience and turned their tips
into beer afterwards.)

It seems to me, and this is pretty vague because I've never been
there, that the USA is a much more religion-minded place - there is
still social pressure on people to go to church, and it is assumed
that normal, decent people will always choose to do so. (It has often
been suggested that nobody with a naturalistic turn of mind could
succeed in American politics.) Am I right? And does this explain the
sense of bewilderment that I sometimes detect when American posters
seem to long for evidence of Christian beliefs in the WW? Not in the
minds of the author or her readers, but in the characters themselves?
(As a matter of interest, we are all agreed about the Christian
message in CS Lewis and Tolkien, and nobody seems to mind that no
churches are attended or carols carolled in Narnia and Middle Earth.
Or do they?) 

British schools all have Easter and Christmas breaks, called by those
names and enjoyed by one and all - Hindu, Buddhist, Moslem and Jew -
but there is no suggestion that one needs to believe in the message of
Easter and Christmas in order to earn those holidays! Why should
Hogwarts be different? Clearly it welcomes  pupils of Hindu origin
(the Patils), possibly Buddhists (though Cho could be anything or
nothing, of course), and where I live young Anthony Goldstein's name
would suggest he's Jewish, though perhaps he isn't! Nice and blurry,
and nobody gets classified by race, religion or culture except by
those obsessed with the purity of their own blood - and even they
would presumably accept a pureblood Afghan, Brazilian, Chinook ...
right as far as Zimbabwean wizard or witch into their homes without
batting an eyelash. 

Which is why Ginny is such a refreshing character - she falls happily
for a boy who's not only muggle-born (to her knowledge) but black, and
Ron's reaction is exactly what it would have been whoever she fell
for! She's probably ahead of many RL  Brits, alas, but the times they
are a-changing. 

I'd really be interested in any feedback on this, assuming the elves
let it through of course!