Wizarding Holidays

[Iverian Gnash]

With the holiday season beginning, we notice how different certain holidays can be depending on where you live. There are some holidays that people celebrate that others don't. With the many ways muggles and the wizarding community is cut off from each other, there have to be some holidays that one celebrates that the other doesn't and vice versa.

We see quite a few that are celebrated at Hogwarts that muggles also celebrate like Halloween and Christmas, but what about some of the smaller holidays?

Some important happenings in the wizarding world like the Battle of Hogwarts would not be documented in the muggle world and of course have no reason for celebration while the ending of muggle wars would not have much effect on most wizards so those dates wouldn't be recognized either.

Are there any holidays that you think the wizarding community would celebrate that muggles wouldn't or the other way around?

[Lucia Dinapoli]

I've never thought about the wars not being celebrated by Muggles, that's such an interesting point!

I don't think the Wizarding Community would celebrate things like Bonfire Night, and I always think about Easter too. Do Wizard's have an Easter Bunny? It would be very interesting - and probably amusing - if they did! On the other hand, Muggles wouldn't participate or even know about Deathday Party's which is a shame because its a rather good excuse for a celebration.

[Prof. Tarma Amelia Black]

The End of the First Wizarding War -- October 31, 1981. That might be worth celebrating.

When Tom Riddle turned his wand on Harry Potter (who was cloaked in protective magic) and the curse rebounded onto Riddle. Riddle had all those Horcruxes so he was only 'mostly dead' and he fled to Albania where he hid out. In the meantime, that was the end of the First Wizarding War.

[Marianne Bowers]

It's quite likely that many wizards and witches celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

First of all, leprechauns do exist in the wizarding world, and they like to trick people by producing fake vanishing gold, as shown when Hagrid uses leprechaun gold to teach his Care of Magical Creatures class about Nifflers in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The symbol of the leprechaun is prevalent in both Ireland and the wizarding world. The Irish National Quidditch Team even has a leprechaun as their team mascot.

Additionally, many students who attend Hogwarts are Irish, and St. Patrick's Day is known to be of Irish origin. Irish students who were homesick or who simply wanted to honor their culture would have probably petitioned for Hogwarts to celebrate the holiday around the time when Ireland began to celebrate it. There would have been some level of enthusiasm from other students who also knew about traditions with leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day, and I imagine many students would be eager to participate in some harmless mischief. With such a large demand for a one-day celebration, Hogwarts would have likely taken on the holiday.

However, I assume Hogwarts would have been keen on celebrating St. Patrick's day before any student input. Saint Patrick himself could have been an English missionary, and the holiday is a Christian one. Seeing that Hogwarts celebrates Christmas, another popular Christian holiday, it isn't a stretch to assume they'd be open to honoring a highly successful English Christian missionary.

In the end, St. Patrick's Day is most likely treated similarly to how it is in our muggle world. Some students at Hogwarts probably celebrate St. Patrick's day on a small scale, and it is likely a large event for some wizards and witches. Still, I doubt it's a school-wide event or a holiday that all magical folks participate in.

[Prof. Maxim Trevelyan]

I am not sure why, but I think Quidditch is much more serious of a deal in the magical world than any of the sports are in the Muggle one. That is why I think there has to be a Quidditch-related holiday that we had not seen. It would probably signify one of the major milestones of the sport, like first ever record of it from Queerditch Marsh, the introduction of the Golden Snidget or the creation of the Golden Snitch.