News from the Wizarding World
We bring you the latest news from the Wizarding World.
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Fireworks Furore Leaves Ministry FrazzledBy Prof. Sky Alton
A flurry of concerned reports about magical activity prompted the Ministry to issue an official reminder to all witches and wizards in Britain that Muggles often set off fireworks on the 5th of November.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement spent the night of the 5th of November dealing with frantic letters alerting them to out of control magic in the skies of Britain. People reported seeing red, gold and green sparks, as well as hearing loud explosions. Upon investigation, all incidents turned out to be down to muggle fireworks. The 5th of November is in fact Bonfire or Guy Fawkes Night for the Muggle community of Britain. It is celebrated by the lighting of fires and the release of many non-magical fireworks into the sky. The day is supposed to commemorate a plot to ‘blow up’ the houses of parliament, but wizarding experts are still largely in the dark about why. When asked for comment, a harassed spokesperson for the Department told our reporter: “Every year! Every flipping year! Aurors having to apparate all over the country to investigate every report, owls everywhere (not to mention their droppings)… madness.” Our reporter asked why the Ministry hadn’t thought to send out a reminder about the Muggle celebration before it actually took place but the spokesperson declined to comment. Instead, they added: “And we’d quite like to speak to the clever so and so who decided to let off a box of magical fireworks over Milton Keynes. Dragons and phoenixes writing rude limericks… As if our jobs weren’t hard enough!” Reader’s are reminded that New Years Eve is also a popular night for muggle fireworks. |
How the Wizarding Schools are Celebrating HalloweenBy Augusta Daedalus
Halloween is right around the corner and several of the magical schools of the Wizarding World are planning fun filled feasts, activities and even a field trip for the occasion. Here’s your inside scoop on what to expect this spooky season!
Hogwarts Hallowe’en Feast is something students look forward to all year. While the Hogwarts staff sets up the decorations in the Great Hall, they are asking students to pitch in to help make it a great feast. These decorations include orange streamers, live bats flying around, large pumpkins, and cartoonish ghosts for the walls. Of course these ghosts are nothing compared to the ghosts who wander around Hogwarts' halls and will be continuing to provide entertainment along with skeletons enchanted to dance around the halls. The food is the part most Hogwarts students and staff are truly excited for. Pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, and apple cider are some of the menu items to look forward to along with plenty of candy of course. Over in France, Beauxbatons' students are gearing up for Halloween as well, though not nearly as intensely as Hogwarts'. Some festivities are planned, such a contest for the scariest costume (the French prefer to go with terrifying costumes rather than the cute or funny) and a feast of their own. Halloween is not a commonly celebrated holiday in France, instead Beauxbatons and the rest of the country prefer to celebrate La Toussaint (All Saint’s Day). The holiday takes place on November 1st and Frenchmen spend the day honoring their dead loved ones. Beauxbatons students are given the day off to spend with family, and when they return the next day, the school holds a moment of silence for all those who have lost family members. Our neighbors to the north, Durmstrang, keep things simple. A typical feast to celebrate and pumpkin carving are two activities planned for the school, though they slightly differ from how Hogwarts students might picture them. Instead of carving faces into their pumpkins, Durmstrang students carve ancient runes, and the pumpkins with the best carved runes are placed around the school as a protection against ghosts of old Durmstrang students. The school is not nearly as welcoming to ghouls as Hogwarts is. Their feast also includes an interesting activity for the normally strict and rigid Durmstrang: a movie night! This year's pick is Trollhunter, a 'found footage' style horror movie that incorporates Norwegian mythology. Finally, the American magical school Ilvermorny, located just hours away from the historical sight of the Salem witch trials, is going all out for this year's festivities. A large feast, costume contests, trick or treating in the granite castle, themed lessons, and most excitingly, a field trip to the previously mentioned Salem. The students will be using this as an opportunity to learn more about the history of witchcraft, while also partaking in the many tourist traps located in Salem. When surveyed, most people look forward to all the muggles attempting divination. |