If there are students of other religions at Hogwarts, why are only the Christian holidays celebrated?

Question

We have a Word of God statement that there is at least one Jewish wizard at Hogwarts, Anthony Goldstein (it's in an answer here somewhere). But if so, why are only the Christian holidays celebrated? Shouldn't they either celebrate all holidays or none?

@Mithrandir - If they celebrated every religious festival, there wouldn't be any time in the year for teaching. — Valorum, Mar 07 '16 at 23:11
it appears that the celebrations are cultural / secular in nature not specifically religious (ie - there is as much religion in the actual celebration as there is in a valentine's celebration). Let's not read into the text more than is there (and let's certainly not turn this into a religious debate) — NKCampbell, Mar 07 '16 at 23:30
Comments are not for extended discussion or religious debate; this conversation has been moved to chat, where you can continue as long as you like (while still keeping to the Be Nice policy, of course). I tried to leave the most important comments here; if you feel I've deleted anything I shouldn't have, please ping me and I can undelete — Rand al'Thor, Mar 08 '16 at 11:50
Britain, where the Potter books are based, is a post-Christian (as in Christian traditions, but principally secular now) country, and whether religiously observed or not, the country does observe Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. But for a lot of people, the religious connotations of these festivals is as relevant as Thor is on Thursday. — GeoffAtkins, Mar 08 '16 at 13:25
Can you specify which Christian holidays you're thinking of? The only one I can think of that's celebrated is Christmas, which is more of a capitalism holiday than a Christian holiday in modern times. Others, like Easter (arguably the major Christian holiday), Good Friday, Lent, etc. don't make an appearance as I recall. At least not as holidays. — TylerH, Mar 08 '16 at 13:39
Unless JKR has publicly stated her reasoning, there isn't a correct answer. There are only individual opinions. VTC. — Major Stackings, Mar 08 '16 at 15:24
By the way, Christmas (Yule), Halloween and Easter were nice and pagan festivals before they got cleverly hijacked by the western christian church (though I don't think it ever claimed Halloween). It may just be that wizards follow those traditions. — Evpok, Mar 09 '16 at 20:24
From where do you get the impression that the Hogwart's Holidays are religious in nature? They just happen to coincide with prevailing holidays in the Harry Potter universe, which in turn are seem to be based on the UK academic calendar, or the British Public School system. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall any specific mention or allusion to religion in Harry Potter which seems to me, to be a secular work. I, like many, have views on religion but religious questions and answers must be off topic in relation to Harry Potter. — Jodrell, Mar 10 '16 at 11:18

Harry Johnston · Answer 1 · 2016-03-08T09:35:00.587

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I don't think it's really as complicated as some of the other answers (and comments) suggest. The British, by and large, consider the secular celebration of Christmas to be part of their cultural tradition; the fact that some people celebrate it as a religious holiday has always been perfectly acceptable, of course, but was not traditionally considered a matter of any particular concern. (Live and let live, it would be a funny old world if we were all the same, and so on.)

The idea that celebrating Christmas (in a secular fashion) is in any way unfair to people of non-Christian faiths has I suspect to some extent been imported from US culture in recent years, but to the best of my knowledge was not at all common during Harry's time at Hogwarts even amongst Muggles.

Add to this that the wizarding community generally lags behind Muggle society on social issues in general, and consider that it isn't at all clear whether the wizarding community is on the whole even aware of the existence of Muggle religions, and the fact that Hogwarts celebrates Christmas really is entirely unsurprising.

Additional: note that I am confident that students of other faiths would not be obliged to take part in or even attend the celebrations, at least not while Dumbledore was in charge. (The Death Eaters, on the other hand...)

edited Mar 08 '16 at 09:35

answered Mar 08 '16 at 09:00

Harry Johnston

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Doesn't Christmas count as a Muggle religion? Or are you trying to point out that the magic world has only borrowed the fun parts of the festival of Christmas after observing a vast majority of Muggles observing these traditions at this particular time of the year(helped of course, by Muggle-borns)? – ʀᴇᴅ_ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ226 Mar 08 '16 at 09:05
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@ʀᴇᴅ_ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ226: Christmas really is a non-religious holiday to many people, and I find no evidence in the books that the wizarding community saw it in any other way. I make no particular claims as to how this state of affairs might have come about. (Out of universe, I assume Ms. Rowling simply didn't want to open that particular can of worms.) I'm open to Word of God quotes on the matter, of course. – Harry Johnston Mar 08 '16 at 09:15
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Hogwarts is an old-fashioned English boarding school. This is what it's actually like in old-fashioned English boarding schools in the real world. At the time JKK was at school, I very much doubt any English school didn't celebrate the Christian festivals or did celebrate other faiths at all. – Mr. Boy Mar 08 '16 at 12:11
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@HarryJohnston: +1. I agree the other answers/comments are overthinking this. But I see the Death Eaters as more of an "always winter and never Christmas" group. They might have a big celebration for Voldemort's birthday instead. – Royal Canadian Bandit Mar 08 '16 at 12:31
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@Mr.Boy: FWIW, Hogwarts is located in Scotland. ;-) Also, traditional UK boarding schools have explicitly Christian worship on a daily basis, which is not shown at Hogwarts. However a secular presents-and-feasting version of Christmas is typical for UK children (then and now). I think JKR just transplanted this to Hogwarts for the fun of it, and at the time did not worry too much about the sociological implications for the wizarding world. – Royal Canadian Bandit Mar 08 '16 at 12:32
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Hogwarts is somewhere in the UK, we don't know where (I think). I went to a Christian boarding school and there certainly wasn't daily worship... but my main point is the school is culturally following typical British norms rather than dismissing other religions intentionally – Mr. Boy Mar 08 '16 at 12:43
@Mr.Boy We do know that Hogwarts is in Scotland; this much has been confirmed by JKR. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 08 '16 at 12:49
@JanusBahsJacquet thanks for that – Mr. Boy Mar 08 '16 at 12:50
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“the fact that some people celebrate it as a religious holiday has always been perfectly acceptable, of course, but was not traditionally considered a matter of any particular concern” — This seems rather backwards to me. Traditionally, Christmas in the UK has absolutely been a completely Christian, religious holiday, very much so. The habit of celebrating it more secularly is not traditional, but much more recent. It has, however, been the normal standard since at least a generation or so before JKR herself went to school. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 08 '16 at 12:52
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@JanusBahsJacquet: well, traditionally we're all paleolithic hunter-gatherers. It's just a question of exactly how old each conflicting tradition is :-) But agreed, that quotation juxtaposes a statement about "always" with a newer secular "tradition" that's really only true to that extent, "not a matter of any particular concern", from the late 20th century if at all. – Steve Jessop Mar 08 '16 at 17:00
That is to say, the religious celebration of Christmas in the UK was most certainly considered by schools a matter of particular concern prior to the late 20th century, and arguably still is. Scotland (and England too with slightly different wording) still require schools other than non-Christian faith schools to organise acts of religious observance that are "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character", although enforcement is lax. – Steve Jessop Mar 08 '16 at 17:14
@Janus, I'm a few years younger than JKR, so " at least a generation or so before JKR herself went to school" is pretty much synonymous with "always" from my POV. :-) In any case, it seems to me that what really matters is what the mainstream cultural tradition was during Harry's schooldays (in universe) and JKR's schooldays (out of universe) so just how far back said tradition goes probably isn't particularly important as far as this question goes. – Harry Johnston Mar 08 '16 at 20:02
@Steve, FWIW, when I said "always been perfectly acceptable" I meant "without exception" rather than "for an indefinite period of time into the past". That is, I was saying that at no point AFAIK was it considered unacceptable for Christians to celebrate Christmas in a religious fashion. Sorry for any confusion, I can see it was a little unclear. I'll consider whether I can sensibly reword it. – Harry Johnston Mar 08 '16 at 20:19
+1 I agree. Rowling could never know that her series would take off like a hot air balloon. She just intneded to publish them for Brit kids at the beginning (probably). But she was still careful enough to not include specific religious terms. They celebrate Christmas, that's it. Even some Muslims celebrate it in their own ways because it indicates a prophet's birth (Muslims have to believe in every prophet that God sent). It's a very meta explanation but I think Rowling wanted to put something familiar into this very unfamiliar world/universe. – burcu Mar 09 '16 at 08:03

Valorum · Answer 2 · 2016-03-07T23:55:35.200

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There are three main elements here.

There are were no Jewish students at Hogwarts.

Bear with me before you start yelling. One day, JKR waved her magic twitter-wand (long, long after she'd finished writing the books) and deemed one of the students to be Jewish. Since there are no Jewish students mentioned in the books, there's no need for the whole school to celebrate any Jewish holidays.

UK Boarding schools don't observe non-Christian holidays.

Hogwarts is modeled on JKR's understanding of what a UK boarding school is like. The vast and overwhelming number of famous boarding schools only celebrate Christian holidays, indeed even their calendars and term-dates (Lent term, Michelmas Term, Trinity) are based around those same holidays, long after anyone actually observes them.

UK schools (in general) don't usually observe non-Christian holidays

In the UK, it would be unheard-of to have a 'whole school observation' of a non-Christian holiday unless students of that religion were in the majority within that school.

edited Mar 07 '16 at 23:55

answered Mar 07 '16 at 23:21

Valorum

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I suggest you reword that first bold header; people might see it and downvote without reading the following paragraph. – Rand al'Thor Mar 07 '16 at 23:42
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@randal'thor - I'll add the downvotes to the pile. – Valorum Mar 07 '16 at 23:56
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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. – TenthJustice Mar 07 '16 at 23:57
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@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. – Valorum Mar 08 '16 at 00:00
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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. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 08 '16 at 00:28
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Having a Jewish name doesn't make you a follower of Judaism. – Mr. Boy Mar 08 '16 at 12:52
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. – KRyan Mar 09 '16 at 20:26
@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. – Valorum Mar 09 '16 at 20:28
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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). – KRyan Mar 09 '16 at 20:49
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@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?). – user23715 Mar 09 '16 at 20:56
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@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 – Valorum Mar 09 '16 at 20:57
The first half of the comment still stands; absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. – KRyan Mar 09 '16 at 20:59
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@Mr.Boy Being Jewish doesn't make you a follower of Judaism either. http://www.jewfaq.org/whoisjew.htm – barbecue Mar 09 '16 at 21:00
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@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. – Valorum Mar 09 '16 at 21:03
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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. – T.E.D. Mar 10 '16 at 15:28

score 20 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

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Out of universe

J. K. Rowling is a Christian and as thus she wrote the books about Christianity.

To me the religious parallels have always been obvious, but I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going.
_{Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books' Christian Imagery - Open Book Tour}

She has said (under oath) that she never had plans to write any books about Judaism.

Defense: You were never going to write a book on Harry Potter and Judaism, right?
The Court: And what?
Defense: It was never her intention to write a book about Harry Potter and the Talmud, isn't that correct?
Rowling: I regret to say that is the case.
_{Warner Bros vs RDR Books - Day 1 - J K Rowling's cross examination}

Also, as others have pointed out, this was the culture norm for schools in the UK.

edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Community

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answered Mar 07 '16 at 23:18

ibid

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Now I'm curious about what that legal case was about, and how Rowling's intention to write/not write about Judaism is/was relevant. – aroth Mar 08 '16 at 05:34
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@aroth - I did provide a link. (As I say on my profile page, I strive to quote from obscure Harry Potter sources.) Tl;dr it's the infamous Lexicon court case. The defence was (I think) trying to show that Rowling's preference for suing was based on whether books conflicted with her future plans, not whether they infringed on her copyright. – ibid Mar 08 '16 at 05:47
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I'd argue one of the "fitting the cultural norms of the UK" answers is better. This answer suggests JKR made a deliberate decision rather than following in the patterns of most UK-school-based stories (Billy Bunter, Famous Five, etc, etc) – Mr. Boy Mar 08 '16 at 16:33
@Mithrandir I've updated with a source from JKR about the Christian nature of the books. – ibid Mar 09 '16 at 01:03
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@ibid I don't see how the quote about the Christian nature of the book is relevant. She was talking about the overall morality of her story and her characters. Christmas at Hogwarts is always shown to be non-religious (no mass, no Naticity scene...) and she specifically says she didn't put anything openly religious in the books. If she had thought of the Christmas Holidays as religious she wouldn't have put it in... Having a break around the end of the year and giving presents is just the cultural norm in most western european countries and it's not religious for a lot of people. – Cartolin Dec 20 '16 at 09:38

CHEESE · Answer 4 · 2016-03-08T14:13:55.443

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There are a few possibilities here.

1. They do celebrate Jewish and other religions' holidays, but it is not mentioned in the books. Since I assume Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and the majority of the students in Hogwarts (as well as, of course, JKR herself) are Christian, or at least they do not celebrate or observe non-Christian holidays, it would make sense that none of them ever notice these holidays, and so they could have easily been cut from the book. Especially since none of the, matter towards the plot.

2. Majority rule Most, if not all of the faculty is Christian in some way, shape, or form, as well as almost all of the student population. There could just be not sufficient numbers of other religions to have any say in this.

3. Hogwarts was a previously Christian school Many prep-schools in America, at least, were previously all-Christian, so it could be possible for Hogwarts, especially regarding that it was founded in the Middle Ages.

However, the real reason is that JKR didn't write about them. She probably did not know much about them, and just didn't put them in.

edited Mar 08 '16 at 14:13

answered Mar 07 '16 at 23:22

CHEESE

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"Since Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and the majority of the students in Hogwarts... are Christian" - Wait, is this actually true? – Rogue Jedi Mar 07 '16 at 23:28
@RogueJedi I assume so. All of them seem to celebrate Christmas and get presents – CHEESE Mar 07 '16 at 23:30
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Lots of non-Christians celebrate Christmas. Since the Hogwarts Christmas celebrations are pretty non-religious, that doesn't really prove anything. – Rogue Jedi Mar 07 '16 at 23:31
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and it has been historically common to generalize western culture as 'christian' in comparison with eastern and other religions. This is less a matter of theology and more of culture. So, given that there are little to no explicitly theological ramblings in the text, it is probably better to presume the cultural application of the term as opposed to the theological. – NKCampbell Mar 07 '16 at 23:33
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@CHEESE It’s not that unusual these days for non-Christians to observe Christmas and get presents, at least while there are children in the family. I don’t think we can really say that any of the main characters in the book are Christian (or perhaps rather identify as Christian)—they, like most kids, just like Christmas trees and presents. We never hear about any of them going to church or praying, for instance, which would be a proper indicator of faith. They seem to be about as Christian as the UK in general, i.e., more nominally than in practice. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 08 '16 at 01:03
It's also logistically difficult to celebrate some non-Christian holidays. For instance, Hanukkah spans 8 days (and Ramadan is even more unwieldy, weighing in at a full month). Do you shut down/disrupt activity for a week and a day every year? And it's hard to plan for, because it falls on a different date each year (and may occasionally coincide with the dates of other holidays). Perhaps Christian holidays also tend to 'win' because they're the shorter, simpler (and almost fully secularized) option. – aroth Mar 08 '16 at 05:41
@aroth You are talking about 8 days off. While JKR never mentions the exact number of days, Hogwarts students do get at least a few weeks off for Christmas and also a week or two (I presume?) off for Easter. So it isn't a question of the length of the festival. It's just that Hogwarts seems to be celebrating the most commonly celebrated festivals, which are the Christian festivals in this case. – ʀᴇᴅ_ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ226 Mar 08 '16 at 08:20
Don't forget that in the deathly hallows, Harry and Hermione while visiting Godric's hallow went into a cemetery which is Christian, and it was here that they found Harry's parent's grave, again hinting if not proving of some Christian affiliation associated with the Potter family. Dumbledore's mother and sister are also found in the same graveyard again suggesting his family were Christian. On the Potter's headstone there is also a quote from the bible, further evidence of Christian belief. Visit the following link for more info http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/James_and_Lily_Potter's_grave – Scanner Mar 08 '16 at 09:56
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@Scanner being buried in a christian cemetery doesn't really imply any religious affiliation whatsoever, at least not in many places in Europe. Atheists would often be buried in the same family graveyard plot as their christian grandparents without any religious rites involved, for example. – Peteris Mar 08 '16 at 10:35
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@Peteris, I acknowledge your point however I think the fact they are buried there along with the inscription on the headstone, which is from the bible and specifically chosen by JKR, as described in the link I provided, at the very least indicates that she intended for the Potters to be Christian. Whether or not this applies to other characters is open to interpretation. – Scanner Mar 08 '16 at 11:01
We know they "celebrate" Christmas, but is this really because it's a religious Holiday, or to alleviate homesickness for the few students that's stuck there over New year? Also remember that Yule - the old druid holiday - corresponds to this time... besides, a New Year and the days getting longer again, is also cause for celebrating. Most students probably are "culturally" Christians. – Baard Kopperud Mar 08 '16 at 11:52
@Everybody What is important is that they are not NOT Christian, not that they are religiously Christian – CHEESE Mar 08 '16 at 14:12

score 12 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 02 '17 at 09:52

Surely the answer is simply that Hogwarts is an English school, and a quintessentially anachronistic English boarding school stereotype at that, and traditionally such schools are nominally Christian and really do only celebrate Christian holidays - the entire English school term system is based around the church calendar.

Or to put it another way...

Hogwarts is an old-fashioned English boarding school. This is what it's actually like in old-fashioned English boarding schools in the real world. At the time JKR was at school, I very much doubt any English school didn't celebrate the Christian festivals or did celebrate other faiths at all.

This should be accepted answer. This plus the fact that wizarding society is pretty backward compared to Muggle society. — Jay, Mar 09 '16 at 07:04

score 7 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 08 '16 at 00:35

First of all, Easter isn't really celebrated. Students get it off and are allowed to go home, but there's never a mention of a feast or decorations or the like. Harry gets eggs from Mrs. Weasley, but that's entirely private.

Hogwarts does get decked out for Christmas and Halloween, and has a feast for each. It also gets decked out once for St. Valentine's Day. But all these holidays are widely celebrated by non-Christians (to the extent that few even really think of the latter two as Christian at all).

So I think it's really just a matter of practicality: huge numbers of your student body are going to be celebrating Christmas and very few will be celebrating Diwali. It just makes sense to have schoolwide celebration for one but not the other.

I suppose they could celebrate NO holidays, but you also have to consider the importance of tradition. For the thousand or so years of Hogwarts' existence, 99% of their student body would be Christian up until very, very recently. That means for a thousand or so years, you'd get holiday on Easter and Christmas and a feast for Christmas. Who wants to be the headmaster who scraps the Christmas feast for sensitivity's sake?

score 6 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 08 '16 at 16:03

I went to school in England in the time frame that the books are set in. I didn't go to a boarding school, let alone a magical one in a remote part of Scotland, but I was in Cambridge which has a high density of fee-paying boarding schools and their terms were much the same as ours (if slightly shorter).

The whole academic year in the UK is structured around three big holidays: Christmas, Easter and summer (the longest one). Hogwarts follows this, possibly because it makes sense in terms of fitting in with the Muggles (wizarding kids would be home from boarding school for the holidays at times which suit the expectations of the Muggle neighbours and thus reduce suspicion).

The reasons for the UK's school system stem of course from Christianity, which is the established religion in England and the religion of the majority of the country who hold a religion, and more so in the time of the books than today. These days we're one of the most atheist countries on the planet (even if people say they're Christians, observance and actual belief are pretty low), but we still celebrate Christmas as a big winter festival - with many elements everyone enjoys these days (including those of other religions) being those adopted from the midwinter festivals preceding the arrival of Christianity which were borrowed as a framework for the celebration of Christ's birth (just like the spring/fertility festivals became Easter, and we retain that imagery in Easter eggs, chicks etc.)

The summer holiday is from farming, giving the children time away from school to help with the harvest and all the massive activities required on a farm during those most productive months of the year in the northern hemisphere.

So all Hogwarts is doing here is expressing the UK's primary cultural heritage. There are clearly students present from other religious backgrounds, but there's no fuss made in the text about anybody actually observing any religions - none of the students who might be from Christian families ever mention going to services or praying or anything like that, and we don't see the Patils (who we might guess are Muslims descended from immigrants from Pakistan) praying five times a day. Rowling seems to have decided to just not mention that side of life in the books - Harry clearly isn't religious, so maybe it's just not important to his worldview and so doesn't get mentioned from his POV. Or the books just reflect the nature of day to day life in the UK - if you're not actually religious yourself - which the majority of us aren't - you mostly just don't think about it.

score 5 · Answer 8 · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Many modern schools in our sad, sad Muggle world don't expressly focus on one religion more than the other, be they public or private. When they do, it's part of the school's founding or heritage, if there's a stark majority of one religion, or if the school's admins deem it so. However, even completely secular schools in the "West" have holidays and traditions around Christianity--winter break near Christmas, spring around Easter. In other areas of the world, spring/winter/summer breaks coincide with other cultural or religious holidays. For example, the weekend in a some Muslim countries is Friday-Saturday, not Saturday-Sunday, because Friday is the holy day of the week in Islam.

Hogwarts was founded

"A thousand years or more ago, when [the Sorting Hat] was newly sewn"

-Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone

At that time, the UK was (and I believe still is?) a Christian-majority nation. Practitioners of other religions were often persecuted or isolated by choice. There were also other factors of population/religion shift such as during the plague of Black Death in the mid 1300s. It killed off a huge percent of the European population, sparking a surge of zealous Christianity/religiousness. Furthermore, thousands of Jews were blamed for the pandemic and more or less kicked out of the area.

According to the census, it is. According to church attendance, probably not so much :) — Sobrique, Mar 08 '16 at 11:37
@Sobrique That gets complicated quickly (and well into the "... true scottsman" territory). I assume plenty of people self-identify as Christians regardless of their church habits, and plenty of people don't self-identify as Christians despite regularly going to church. In the end, the only objective sign you are a Christian is if you were baptized. And not even that, really :D — Luaan, Mar 08 '16 at 12:22

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 09 '16 at 00:36

Because the world is a vast place and it does not observe cultural traditions or expectations of the United States, even in a relatively similar environment as Western Europe.

The modern USA population consists mostly of descendants fleeing not only from poverty, but also from religious persecution in Europe. That caused the immigrants to look out for any possible prohibition or even religious slights. This caused the strong insistence of a secular country. The own belief is still a marker of an ingroup and discussing religion is still undesirable.

In the meantime the Europeans got less and less religious observant at all. Religion was considered less and less important and it simply ceased to be an ingroup marker. I think many people here who live in Europe have for most of their acquaintances no idea which religious denomination they have. Nobody also cares for religious observances anymore: It is not uncommon to have people calling themselves "Christians" who eat beef on Fridays and add own personal beliefs which are incompatible with the official declarations like the belief in reincarnation etc. Atheism is widespread, atheists are even the majority in Scandinavia.

While religion lost mostly its power, strangely it is still considered a bringer of virtue. During the fall of the East German regime people used churches as meeting points and some pastors like Martin Gutzeit were spearheads of the resistance. Many churches are still greatly involved in charities and care.

And this is what is very, very hard to understand from a US perspective: In some parts of Europe there are church taxes, the government collects taxes for the main Christian churches. There is also in some parts obligatory religious education in state schools, yes, you read that right, pupils are going into school and are teached Christian knowledge which will be also graded. And everywhere people are celebrating Christian holidays because of tradition and they do not care a damn if this favors the Christian denomination.

If you do not want to pay taxes, officially declare to leave the church. If you are not part of a minority which is automatically excluded from religious education (Jews, Muslims), you talk with the principal and find a solution. But it is the decision of yourself and your parents. There is really not the viewpoint all or none, this conformism does not make sense for Europeans in general. If you want to celebrate, celebrate, if not, do not.

So the answer of the question is: Because Europeans in general observe Christian holidays for tradition, find Christian traditions good and ignore if there are other religious holidays.

Abstaining from beef on Friday is not a specifically "Christian" thing, it is a Catholic and possibly Anglican thing. It is also really only expected on Good Friday, and though out Lent. — Ryan, Mar 09 '16 at 23:38
@ryan While true, I simply tried to find something which is hopefully known as a specific and widespread Christian habit. The older Catholics in Europe (post war generation) will also confirm that they did not eat meat every Friday (mostly fish). The problem is that we had and have thousands of "Christian" groups with a dazzling array of rules; even the obvious candidate for a shared Christian belief is not uncontested — Thorsten S., Mar 10 '16 at 14:01

If there are students of other religions at Hogwarts, why are only the Christian holidays celebrated?

9 Answers9

There are were no Jewish students at Hogwarts.

UK Boarding schools don't observe non-Christian holidays.

UK schools (in general) don't usually observe non-Christian holidays

Out of universe

Linked