| Halloween Harry's parents were killed on Halloween. (Also, Harry was born July 31st, so he could have been conceived on Halloween.) Nearly Headless Nick was also killed on Halloween. Quirrel lets the troll into the dungeons to try and steal the stone on Halloween; Harry and Ron rescue Hermione from the troll and become friends. Mrs. Norris is attacked and petrified on Halloween. Sirius Black tries to get into Gryffindor tower and slashes the Fat Lady's potrait on Halloween. The Goblet of Fire spits out Harry's name, entering him into the Triwizard Tournament, on Halloween. Sibyll Trelawney's prediction about Harry and Voldemort was made to Dumbledore on Halloween. *Halloween was originally a pagan festival of the dead, marking the end of the Celtic year. For a holiday associated with magic, it's never been pleasant at Hogwarts, has it? Clothing There are numerous references to socks throughout the HP books. Dumbledore sees himself holding socks in the Mirror of Erised. Lucius Malfoy tosses a sock over his shoulder, unintentionally freeing Dobby (and socks are Dobby's favorite kind of clothes). The Sneakoscope is hidden in Harry's socks. *Putting on a pair of non-matching socks is said to be lucky. Anyone else notice that Dobby is always wearing two different socks? And Harry wears the non-matching socks that Dobby gave him to the Yule Ball. Mrs. Weasley always gives hand-knitted sweaters for Christmas. Never know when they might become important. If JKR hits us over the head with something, it's because she wants us to remember it. So what, if anything, do Mrs. Weasley's sweaters signify? Wands On JKR's website, she says that she decided what wood people's wands were made of based on the day of their birth (the Celts assigned trees to different parts of the year). Harry's wand is made of holly, Ron's old wand was made of ash - his new is made of willow, and Hermione's is made of vine. Voldemort's wand is yew, Lily's was willow, and James's was mahogany. *European tradition says that holly repels evil, while yew trees generally live a long time and represent death and resurrection. The sap is also poisonous. *According to my superstitions book, trees have meanings. Holly means foresight (Harry's dreams?). Ash means grandeur (Remember, Ron's old wand once belonged to Charlie). Willow means mourning. Yew means sadness. It didn't list mahogany or vine. As for the core of people's wands, Harry and Voldemort both have phoenix feathers (remember - they're both from Fawkes), Ron has unicorn hair, and Hermione has dragon heartstring. (Hermione, Ron, and Harry unite the three wand cores that Ollivander uses. Wonder if that will be important in later books?) *To get the meanings of these, I had to look up "charms" in my supersitions book. Dragons are emblems of authority in China, and in Britain they were, at one time, ensigns of war and symbolic of victory. Unicorns symbolize justice. It didn't say anything about phoenixes. (But the phoenix probably is supposed to represent longevity or immortality, since phoenixes don't techincally die. They're also very powerful and magical creatures.) |
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