DD at the Dursleys: Better Manner to Accept.

[littleleahstill]

No: HPFGUIDX 158210

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tonks" <tonks_op at ...> wrote:
>
> Ah, I see the embers of the discussions about the scene at the 
> Dursley's.  Even though I am a DD supporter, let me just add a few 
> more coals to the fire. <eg>
> 
> I have thought about the type of drink that he is offering them.  
> And as someone wrote in a thread awhile back, "what is up with all 
> of the alcohol in HBP".  If I were Petunia or Vernon and had a 
> health condition that prevented me from drinking alcohol what 
would 
> DD have expected me to do?  And he is giving alcohol to 2 minors.  
> Now I don't blame DD for this thoughtlessness, I blame JKR.  DD is 
a 
> better man than that.
> 
> The Dursleys could have just taken the drinks and held them.  One 
> does have to wonder, what is the significance of all of this 
> alcohol?  There must be something to it, I can't think that JKR 
> would give alcohol to her own children or suggest that a teacher 
or 
> headmaster of a boarding school give alcohol to the students.  I 
> mean if this scene were just about manners and hospitality, 
wouldn't 
> he have just made a pot of tea? Could be herbal tea if they didn't 
> want to have caffeine at midnight. Or even a spot of butterbeer, 
> which doesn't seem to be alcoholic. Just seems a bit odd here.  
> Maybe JKR just wasn't' thinking it all out in the detail that we 
> do.  Still I do wonder

> 
> Tonks_op


Leah:

Dumbledore is offering mead, which is fermented honey. Since 
Dumbledore's name means bumblebee, I wonder if there is meant to be 
some connection there.  Mead was historically considered a drink 
which helped promote long life and vitality, and was made in a 
number of monasteries in Britain. So it's not as if DD is offering 
absinthe.  It's also very sweet which would mean you wouldn't want a 
lot of it- a whiskey sort of glass, I imagine.  Later Draco attempts 
to poison DD with this same mead, which Slughorn keeps to himself, 
so it's clearly a popular drink in the WW.  

I think what we are seeing here is a 'proper' use of alcohol as part 
of a ritual of hospitality.  Interestingly this is also as we see it 
at Spinners End.  There is meant to be a contrast, I think, between 
that usage and the 'improper' use by Trelawney.  Hagrid and Slughorn 
at the wake come somewhere in between IMO.  

As to English usage, DD is calling in the evening, and I would 
certainly expected to be offered and to offer alcohol on such an 
occasion as the first choice drink unless there were obvious reasons 
why this would be unacceptable eg religious.  Tea is for the daytime 
as far as I'm concerned.   It never occured to me to be surprised 
that 17 year olds were being offered alcohol in the home; this would 
I think be considered quite acceptable.         

The legal rule is that a person must be 18 to purchase alcohol in a 
licenced establishment such as a pub.  However, younger teenagers 
(think over 14 but it might be 16) can drink alcohol with a meal on 
licensed premises if accompanied by an adult.  In the home, children 
of 5 or over can be given alcohol, so DD is doing nothing illegal.  

We gave our children very watered down wine with meals from about 6 
onwards, and they were probably drinking a normal glass at about 
15/16 with a meal.  They didn't have drinks (in the home at least) 
at other times.  The idea is to introduce alcohol as a normal part 
of life not something to binge on.

This is not to say that binge drinking does not occur in the UK- it 
is quite a problem, as is under-age drinking.  This tends to be 
consumption of beer or alco-pop type drinks outside the home.

Leah