Question?

[AgCl]

Wizards and Witches celebrate Christmas, so is Jesus a wizard? or is the holiday something they got from the muggles?

[Rose Ann]

The holiday is something they got from the Muggles. And did you notice that what is on his parents' gravestones is from the Bible? "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (I think that is from 1st Corinthians).

[AgCl]

nope didn't know that at all...thanks its nice to know new things about HP once in a while

[Kristen]

I don't think there's any religious connection in the story. Christmas is just celebrated in the books because it's celebrated in reality.

[Sammy]

I think Wizards and Witches could just as easily belong to a religion as muggles could hence the reason they celebrate christmas :P

[Michele]

They could just as easily celebrated Yule, the winter solstice, instead.

[Kari]

I don't think the magic is tied to their religion. One can be separate from the other as everyone else here has pointed out.

[Fox]

I think because most of the children who attend Hogwarts grew up in the muggle world until they were 13. They were probably used to Christmas and like regular schools, Hogwarts celebrates holidays (like Christmas and Halloween). I think it's kind of nice.

[[deleted user]]

prob something they god from the muggles

[Richard]

christmas existed before Christ, it was an old pagan festival

[AgCl]

actually the term Christmas came from Christ Mass, the celebration of Jesus' birth, although many of the stuffs people do at Christmas like caroling for example are of pagan origin or rather the Christmas of today is a fusion of pagan and Christian traditions...


and i wasn't talking about religion either. I was just wondering if they celebrated Christmas because Jesus was a celebrated warlock or something and not because they're christians.

[Richard]

christ mass is christian, yes, but the celebration at that time of year is an old pagan tradition. same as the celebrations around easter.

so i was guessing that the celebration at that time of year, irrespective of christ, would be quite logical for a bunch of wizards and witches

or it could just be that its a kids book and kids love reading about christmas

[AgCl]

yeah but they could've just celebrated winter solstice instead if it was irrespective of christ and mind you those witches and wizards hate parting with their old traditions.

[Richard]

as i said, it could just be that its a kids book and kids love reading about christmas

[AgCl]

and i was asking for creative imagination not grown up explanations.

[Richard]

AgCl wrote: "and i was asking for creative imagination not grown up explanations."

apologies, that was not clear from your question

[AgCl]

Sandyboy wrote:"apologies, that was not clear from your question "

i don't think people would ask questions just to get obvious answers.

[Julia]

It's an interesting possibility. But Jesus was alive long before the International Statute of Secrecy. So there were several centuries during which muggles and wizards lived openly side-by-side. During this time, they would have shared many traditions, Christmas being one of them.

But that doesn't mean Jesus wasn't a wizard. He did a lot for humanity, so whether he was a muggle, a wizard, or a god he's worthy of celebrating. Putting this together with the timeline matter I mentioned above, it's quite likely that wizards and muggles were both involved in creating the Christmas traditions.

I read somewhere that there was a palpal convention (I can't remember when, but it was within the previous millennium (between 1000 and 2000 AD) in which the Pope and Cardinals and other church officials debated Jesus's nature - i.e. whether he a god or a man. It was in this meeting that they decided he was both, being a son of God.

Putting that bit of history together with the fictional history about the Statute of Secrecy, it makes sense. Prior to the Statute of Secrecy, muggles would have known him to be a wizard. After the Statute of Secrecy, wizards would have found ways to remove that bit of information without removing everything known about him. This missing information would have led to misunderstandings and questions about his nature. Those would have led to that Palpal convention mentioned above.

Good question OP.