Timeline for If there are students of other religions at Hogwarts, why are only the Christian holidays celebrated?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
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| Mar 10, 2016 at 15:28 | comment | added | T.E.D. | I personally attended what we call in the states a Private College Preparatory School (colloquially known as "Prep School"). We had rather a lot Jewish students. At least 5 in my class that I can think of off the top of my head. Still, we had Christmas off (and even a couple of mandatory Church attendances), but no Jewish holidays off. The Jewish kids would generally just be absent those days. Could be wrong, but I'd imagine a UK Boarding School would work similarly. | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 21:03 | comment | added | Valorum | @KRyan - That might be true in a single book or even a trilogy of books. After writing approximately a millions words worth of HP books, anything not already mentioned is almost certainly not mentioned on purpose. | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 21:00 | comment | added | barbecue | @Mr.Boy Being Jewish doesn't make you a follower of Judaism either. jewfaq.org/whoisjew.htm | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 20:59 | comment | added | KRyan | The first half of the comment still stands; absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 20:57 | comment | added | Valorum | @KRyan - There are multiple instances of Christian faith on display in the HP books; The Fat Friar, the quotations from Corinthians on Harry's Parent's gravestones (themselves found in a Parish graveyard), the fact that Harry has a Godfather, etc etc | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 20:56 | comment | added | user23715 | @KRyan -- "Do we even see any practicing Christians?" you ask. -- Godric's Hollow at the church cemetery. Hymns being sung inside since it was Christmas Eve (or is that just the movie?). | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 20:49 | comment | added | KRyan | No, it's an argument from ignorance. Even ignoring that statement by Rowling, that we don't see any non-Christians doesn't mean that there are no non-Christians. Thus your argument is invalid. For that matter, do we even see any practicing Christians? People celebrate Christmas in a rather secular fashion, but I don't recall any mention of any prayer or mass or even Christian-themed accessories (no gold crosses or what have you). | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 20:28 | comment | added | Valorum | @KRyan - Not so. The specific reason there was no mention of other festivals is that JKR didn't have any openly non-Christian characters. If anything, the first paragraph is the only part of the answer that's actually worthwhile. Everything else is retcon and guesswork. | |
| Mar 9, 2016 at 20:26 | comment | added | KRyan | The first point seems entirely irrelevant, and mostly added as an opportunity to rant about a behavior on the author's part that you disapprove of. 'Not useful' indeed. | |
| Mar 8, 2016 at 12:52 | comment | added | Mr. Boy | Having a Jewish name doesn't make you a follower of Judaism. | |
| Mar 8, 2016 at 0:28 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | She also never identified the Patil twins as being Indian or Cho as being Chinese (or anything else, for that matter), but it would be highly disingenuous to suggest that she only much later on decided that they were. I see no reason to doubt her when she says that Anthony Goldstein was intended to be Jewish from the start—and more importantly, that doesn’t in any way affect the fact that UK schools (and society) in general obey Christian holidays only, which is quite enough reason, I think, that Hogwarts should be the same. | |
| Mar 8, 2016 at 0:00 | comment | added | Valorum | @TenthJustice - It's certainly a very Jewish name, I'll admit. That being said, there are many non-Jewish Goldsteins. More importantly, though, he's not identified as being Jewish in the books. I shall also refer you to points 2+3. A single Jewish pupil is hardly likely to result in a whole-school observance of Jewish festivals. | |
| Mar 7, 2016 at 23:57 | comment | added | TenthJustice | I find it hard to believe that JK Rowling named a character "Anthony Goldstein" and didn't plan him to be Jewish from the start. | |
| Mar 7, 2016 at 23:56 | comment | added | Valorum | @randal'thor - I'll add the downvotes to the pile. | |
| Mar 7, 2016 at 23:55 | history | edited | Valorum | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 12 characters in body
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| Mar 7, 2016 at 23:42 | comment | added | Rand al'Thor♦ | I suggest you reword that first bold header; people might see it and downvote without reading the following paragraph. | |
| Mar 7, 2016 at 23:21 | history | answered | Valorum | CC BY-SA 3.0 |