Magical Latin

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186123

Magpie wrote:
> > >Others have mentioned that we have a friar wandering the halls of Hogwarts.
> > 
> > No.Limberger responded:
> > The ghosts that wander the halls of Hogwarts are not limited to friars.
> 
Magpie replied:
> I'm confused as to what that means. I didn't say they were limited to friars, but just that friars exist as something that exists and is recognized. Just as they would be in the UK. References to specific religions are all Christian (that I remember) but the characters are mostly secular. Harry knows what a friar is, but can't quote the Bible. <snip>

Carol adds:
He also knows what a vicar is (he thinks that Draco's dress robes at the Yule Ball make him look like a vicar) indicating specific knowledge of Anglican clergy. The Fat Friar, like the monks in one of the paintings, demonstrates the one-time connection between the British (or English) WW and British (or English) Muggledom at a time when that Muggledom was exclusively Roman Catholic. (They presumably predate Henry VIII.)

With regard to other religious groups in the WW (mentioned by No.Limburger in other posts in this thread), they're not really relevant here as the HP books are about the British WW (the Patil twins may be from India, true, but India was once a British colony) and specifically, Hogwarts, which is in Scotland but contains mostly English students, as well as a few from other parts of the British Isles or the Commonwealth.

China, no doubt, has its own schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry, perhaps under some other name, as does Egypt and Saudi Arabia and any number of other nations (even Peru has Wizards; one of the Weasley brothers had a Peruvian penpal at one time). But their cultural and religious backgrounds are not relevant to the British WW as depicted in the HP books (except incidentally in relation to, say, the QWC).

Carol, who is curious about No.Limburger's ID and hopes he'll enlighten us on his choice of moniker over at OTChatter