Christianity evolved out of Judaism and, as such, believes in many of the same basic tenets. In Judaism, the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings are divided into 24 Books in the Hebrew Bible. The basis of Christianity is, therefore, the same as the basis of Judaism and their early texts are markedly similar, as are many of their basic beliefs. Christianity continued in the vein of Judaism in that it was a monotheistic religion. Christians, instead of using the term Yahweh, preferred the term God and that is what Christians call their deity today.

The New Testament of the Christian Bible is where Judaism and Christianity diverge from the same path into two separate ones. The Messiah is where the two religions cannot agree. Both agree that a Messiah will or does exist, that this figure will be a redeemer of mankind, a leader in moral and religious matters as well as political and military matters. The disagreement comes into play as to whether or not the Messiah has come. Jewish followers believe that the Messiah has yet to appear on Earth while Christians believe that the Messiah is Jesus Christ, later Crucified and believe that Jesus died for the sins of mankind, thus fulfilling the redemption role.

Though there are many witches and wizards who are Christian, the Muggle vein of Christianity heavily rejects magic. Some sects are very strict in believing it is evil or Satanic, condemning all witches and wizards (see Witch Burnings) while other Muggles have dismissed the idea of magic as mere superstition to not be taken seriously at all. Wizards have amended Christianity slightly so that, while they still celebrate the major Christian events (Christmas, Easter), magic is not condemned. Nonmagic peoples have a long history of condemning that which they do not understand or that which they fear and wizard Christians widely believe that it was Muggle churches that condemned magic and not the religion itself. In this way, witches and wizards continue to be able to hold their beliefs without feeling like they must suppress their true selves to appease a higher power.

While most Muggle Christianity denounces magic as evil, the Catholic Church recognises Healings and Visions (Divination) as possible and has recognised specific people as having such Gifts. Some of these Saints were witches or wizards in their own right, documented by magical historians as individuals trying to bridge the gap between Muggles and magical communities, but many of theses Saints were either Muggle-born witches and wizards who refused to acknowledge their abilities or else Squibs who had perhaps a few isolated incidences of magic in their lifetimes. While such Healings and Visions are recognised officially by the Catholic Church, many Muggle Christians, still reject magic on the whole, condemning it as evil and dangerous. Wizard Christians have found it easiest to practise their beliefs outside of Muggle churches to avoid the condemnation and ostracism that they would be prone to experience in Muggle circles.

One interesting sect of Christianity is known as Esoteric Christianity. This branch of Christianity does not reject all magic, and is made up of a mix of open-minded Muggles and practising witches and wizards. They use the Bible in their teachings, though focus primarily on the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and select readings from the remainder of the Bible, primarily from the New Testament. They believe Jesus Christ is indeed the Messiah as the rest of Christianity does, but they set themselves apart in that they believe themselves an enlightened few. This branch has ancient roots, tracing back to the fourth century C.E. as the disciplina arcani, a secret oral tradition of Hellenistic and Palestinian Judaism. The sect adopted views of Christianity over time and became Esoteric Christianity.

An important achievement of Esoteric Christianity that witches and wizards involved in the sect brought about was the introduction of the art of Alchemy. Famed alchemist Nicolas Flamel (1327-1992) himself was an Esoteric Christian and he remains the only known maker of the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary substance that can turn any base metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which makes the drinker immortal. The advent of Alchemy in this select group of Christians has been used by future generations of Magical peoples for Muggle-Magic relations as evidence that Muggles and Magical peoples can live fully integrated, but a counterargument of the Witch Burnings of the same time period as well as many wizards being unwilling for such cohesion has stopped true integration from reoccurring.

Esoteric Christianity shows that some Muggles are open-minded enough to accept witches and wizards into their lives, though the Ministry of Magic disapproves of this lifestyle and sees the Esoteric Christians who are witches and wizards as rebels and, as per the Statute of Secrecy of 1692, will arrest them if they are caught. For this reason, Esoteric Christians of both Muggle and Magical roots keep their religion a closely guarded secret to this day. Religion has greatly impacted the Magical world, and it remains one of the key elements that lead to the later separation of the magical societies from the nonmagical world.

There is no rejection of magic or of Western witches and wizards amongst practitioners of Confucianism. They do not reject magic as much as disavow it. They would claim that what Western wizardkind identifies as “magic” is simply “Li,” or the ability to make something happen without taking direct physical action. How this differs from “magic” is not entirely clear, though, of course, physical action is required in many forms of magic, at least as Western wizardkind practices it most often. Thus, it is possible that the followers of Confucianism simply fail to utilize some forms of magic, while excelling in others.

Confucian wizards and witches consider themselves to be allied with “The School of the Scholars.” Were they to attend Hogwarts, they would be overrepresented amongst the Ravenclaws, and secondarily amongst the Hufflepuffs. In their own wizarding academies, the tendency is so strongly to be sorted into the House of one’s parents that to be sorted otherwise makes one a bit of an oddity.

Confucian wizarding practice is strongly ritualistic and formal, even in small bits of magic. As with Western magic, Li is used for even the smallest of household tasks, but is often cooperative in nature, invoking a relationship to accomplish even simple tasks such as summoning spells. Confucian approaches to magic are, in fact, so cooperative that the desires of the individual wizard are often sublimated to those of the group.

Perhaps the best statement of this philosophical approach is a quote of one Confucian wizard, known by the single name “Spock,” who famously stated, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one… or the few.” It is entirely possible that a misunderstanding of this ethical stance on the use of magic is responsible for the twisted perspective that Gellert Grindelwald developed; that wizardkind should assume power over Mugglekind “for the greater good.” A deeper understanding would have informed him that this stance is completely antithetical to the principles of Confucianism.


The focus of Daoist beliefs is spontaneity, and connecting with nature. Thus, Daoist magic was completely unstructured, and revolved around nature spells. This nature magic varied from forming rivers through Gouging Spells and an early form of Aguamenti to affecting the weather in much more complex ways than the modern curses and Atmospheric Charms. One wizard, by the name of Huai Bai is known for his ability to summon or stop rain without speaking a word.

He wrote:

The rain inside me

Commands me to let it out

Falling upon us

Many similar poems exist, and some modern historians believe that this poetry was actually a means of forming spells. However, they have not worked in various modern experimental settings, leading to the conclusion that they involved some other movement or substance, or that the magic behind them has ceased to exist.

This interest in nature also leads to astounding strides in Herbology. Daoist wizards and Muggles discovered countless useful herbs and fungi, including Finger Root and Sea Buckthorn. They worked together to develop methods for herb maintenance and use, advancing the field of potion-making as well. However, due to the Daoists’ wishes for spontaneity, the procedures for most of the potions were never recorded, and cannot be replicated.

Within the Daoist community, there was no distinction between Muggles and wizards. Most Muggles believed that they had the same powers as wizards to control their surroundings through magic. Through Daoism, wizards and Muggles collaborated freely, without conflict.


Greek Rationalists promoted the radical, wholesale rejection of the history, philosophy and experience of wizardkind (and Mugglekind, to boot) as mere superstition. They considered magic and wizardry as having no intellectual foundation or basis in reality. That is, essentially, if they could not determine the laws of magic by the use of pure logic, without regard to the evidence of their senses, they dismissed the phenomenon as being, somehow, untrue. While they did not persecute wizardkind, they dismissed them as being irrational at best, and charlatans at worst. Unfortunately, this view of magic as “improvable by logic” eventually was twisted into a more threatening view, and contributed to the development of the widespread persecution of witches and wizards in the 1600s.

Prior to the rise of the Rationalist movement, wizards and witches were able to mingle freely with the Muggle world, not necessarily flaunting their abilities or even practicing their craft openly, but certainly without fear of prosecution or even coming to the notice of their neighbors, given Muggle tendency to dismiss what they cannot explain. In 1584, however, rationalist Reginald Scot (a Muggle) wrote a frightening text (to the wizarding world): Discoverie of Witchcraft, an informally produced collection of magical spells and charms, wherein he recorded the level of development of magical practice in the 16th century, and then proceeded to claim it was superstition and outright deception.

How it was that Scot acquired access to the range of witches and wizards he would have needed to produce this text is unclear. However, what is clear is that his text raised Muggle awareness of the existence of magic, its principles and practices, and its usefulness. This led to two problems: increasing demand for wizarding intervention in Muggle problems, and blame for even the smallest, most random of Muggle problems on supposed wizarding activity. Needless to say, this text became one of the motives for prosecution of witches and wizards throughout Europe and North America, leading directly to the need for the International Statute of Secrecy, passed in 1689. More recently, in the 1900s, Rationalism morphed into Pragmatism, and returned to acceptance of magic, due to Pragmatism’s focus on “if it works, and is useful, it must be rational and true.”

Ironically, Greek Rationalism is also responsible for the development of statistics and the scientific method. Current practice of these, even amongst Muggles, has led to what they refer to as the study of “quantum mechanics” or “quantum effects,” a field of study which is on the verge of proving the existence of magic with sufficient “proof” to satisfy the most rigorous of the Greek Rationalists. Further, the impact of statistical methods devised by the Rationalists on the subtle science of potion-making, with its emphasis on empirical methods, exact methodology, and replicability, is incalculable.


Practitioners of Hinduism are quite conversant with the wizarding world, and there is much exchange of knowledge, opinions, and methods between the Western wizarding world and these mostly Eastern practitioners, particularly since the middle to late 1900s when the Wizard Wrock band The Beatles went public with their study of the methods of Hindu wizardry.

Hindu wizards are referred to as “Mantriks” or “magicians.” They are known for their expertise in the use of spells, curses, and rhythmic, sing-song charms called “mantras.” Unique amongst the Hindu wizards is the crafting of beautiful spells in the form of tantras or mandalas, which are often geometric in form, and may be simple line drawings or much more colorful, and may be permanently inscribed using dragon’s blood and other rare inks, or temporarily created out of dyed sand. Knut to Sickle-sized mandalas may be worn around the neck or carried in the pocket. Others may adorn a room in the witch or wizard’s home.

Practitioners of the methods of Hindu wizardry tend to excel in engorgio/reducio spells, Apparating, conjuring, and banishment. Many Mantrik practitioners excel in methods of Divination, even if they are not Seers, per se. It would be extremely unusual, even bizarre, to find a Mantrik practicing Dark magic; Hindu magic is almost entirely focused on positive energy. As a result, of course, their wands tend to be made of wand woods that have overwhelmingly positive energies, and their cores, in contrast to those of British wizards, tend to be of gemstone rather than including animal essences.


Followers of Islam see the practice of magic as either destructive or deceptive. As a result, their most common reaction to witches and wizards is, first, a determined pretense that they do not exist, and second, and equally determined avoidance, both of true members of the wizarding community and Muggle practitioners of the slight-of-hand that Muggles, amusingly, refer to as “magic,” but which is actually entertainment for other unobservant Muggles. They are particularly wary of Divination in any of its forms, the Imperius curse (with good reason, as it is Unforgiveable even amongst wizardkind) and the practice of Occlumancy. It is a peculiarity of this group that they disavow even the practice of Healing, when practiced in anything other than the more barbaric Muggle manner.

If a witch or wizard unwisely makes themselves known within the community of those who practice Islam, they are likely to find themselves in the midst of a fierce debate about the deceptiveness or destructiveness of their magic, with the unfortunate Muggles attempting to disprove the evidence before them. Alternatively, the Muggles may attempt to detain the witch or wizard for acts against God or nature, and issue appropriate punishments. They are often frustrated in this, of course, as the detained witch or wizard typically Disapparates away before they come to any harm.


Judaism is one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions. A monotheistic religion means one in which a solitary deity, or god, is worshipped. Most religions up until this point were polytheistic, or worshipped a myriad of different gods who were generally each worshipped for specific things, such as harvest, sunlight, and rain. Polytheistic religions were more common and more popular in ancient times because ancient peoples used the gods and goddesses to explain all things – good and bad – that happened in their lives, so it made sense to assign different areas of strength to different gods and goddesses as they applied to a specific culture’s everyday life. Judaism challenged this belief, believing a solitary god (“Yahweh”) was solely responsible for all areas of life, that the same god who created man also caused storms and punished nonbelievers.

Jewish religion forbade many Magical Arts in the religious texts, the Torah and the Talmud. Astrology, “black” (Dark) magic, “fortunetelling” (Divination), “magic medicine” (Healing), and superstition were all outlawed in Judaism. The schism between the magical and nonmagical communities had begun to form, as this was when the shift between revering and even borderline worshipping witches and wizards and fearing and despising them began to form. Punishment by death was common in this time for those accused of practising the Magical Arts.

New spells, new potions, and new knowledge of the magical arts was stifled because suddenly, witches and wizards were condemned to practise behind closed doors and could no longer openly discuss experiments they were conducting. Fewer and fewer people felt safe to discuss their magic for fear that they would be overheard and they would be executed. More common than witch or wizard deaths were Muggle deaths of those Muggles who tried to copy their magical neighbours and were caught. Unfortunately, Muggles lacked the ability to protect themselves with the use of Illusory Charms and protective enchantments and sentences to death were carried out successfully. Despite all of this, witches and wizards continued to live immersed in Muggle culture for several more centuries and saw the beginnings of new religions come into play, religions that equally outlawed and feared their magical arts that was so crucial to the Wizarding culture.


Non-magic
peoples have feared witchcraft for centuries. In fact, the first time that
witchcraft in any form for any purpose was officially denounced as a sin or
crime in history was in the Hebrew Torah, circa 14th and 12th century
B.C. Small portions of two
books of the Torah (Exodus and Leviticus) were used by Muggle
authorities to promote the idea that witchcraft is evil or dangerous as per the
twisted idea of witchcraft that they presented within the context of their
religion. While this told
Muggles that magic was wrong, it was quite a while before open and frequent
persecution was recorded in history. In fact, there were early church
authorities, including by some accounts St. Augustine, who thought magic no
more than delusion. This was, of course, of great relief to early witches
and wizards of Europe, where Christianity (a religion based partially on the
laws of the Torah) dominated the minds of men and witches and wizards commonly
lived in communities in which their gifts were seen as sinful. The words
of these religious leaders, however, did not always ease the minds of the
average Muggles and, for the next several hundred years, witchcraft was
acknowledged by Muggles as wrong, evil, dangerous, or frightening, at times
believed to be possible and at others denounced as impossible. In the thirteenth century, witchcraft trials
in Europe began to gain popularity and by the early fourteenth century burnings
were common.



Non-magic
people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in
medieval times, but not very good at recognising it. On the rare occasion that
they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The
witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame Freezing Charm and then pretend to
shriek in pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin
the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no
less than forty-seven times in various disguises.



Many witches, wizards and even Muggles lost their
lives due to the Muggles’ fear of both the unknown and the so-called
occult. During the Renaissance, there
was a strong sense of religiousness. A chilling result of this orthodoxy was
the prevalence of witch burnings, which took place in both Catholic and
Protestant countries at the time. It started towards the end of the Middle Ages
and peaked in the seventeenth century, though it lasted until the eighteenth
century before it began to fade. Almost
all Muggles of the time accepted witches and wizards as a reality. Muggles
strictly defined the terms witch and wizard (mostly witch) to mean a person who
had sold their soul to the devil. Their evil work was thought to influence
aspects of daily life, such as a failed harvest, or if a person fell gravely
ill or died suddenly without warning.



According to Muggles of the day, a witch had the
power to harm her fellow people or Muggles by giving up her soul’s salvation.
Muggles had many outrageous ideas about witches, including that they held
meetings on the witches’ Sabbath where they supposedly had sexual intercourse
with the Devil, who could take the form of a goat or other animals. In Catholic
countries, the Inquisition (run by the church courts) led the witch cases,
while in Protestant countries it fell to the civil courts. The interrogation of
suspected witches was almost always conducted under torture. It was often so
painful that the accused would be more than willing to confess anything, just
to escape the pain. The most common punishment was death, by burning at the
stakes. Most convicted witches were older women, but some younger men and women
were also charged and convicted.



Witch burnings took place throughout Europe. In
1591 in North Berwick in Scotland, 70 people were accused of witchcraft because
of the poor weather on the seas, when King James VI of Scotland travelled to
Denmark to meet his betrothed. He was
extremely paranoid about witchcraft, and this incident came to be the largest
witch-hunt in Britain. A man by the name
Matthew Hopkins was a successful witch hunter in England during 1645-1646. He
managed to charge more witches in his career than had been charged combined in
the past 100 years. In England, over 500 witch burnings took place, 200 of
which Hopkins was directly responsible for.
There were trials and witch burnings held in the American Colonies as
well. The Salem Witch Trials, held in Massachusetts Colony in 1692-1693, is
particularly well known. More than 150 people were charged with witchcraft,
although only 19 people were put on trial and found guilty. Most were hanged
for their misdeeds. In 1682, the last accused witch in England was executed.
Temperance Lloyd, a Muggle woman who had gone senile with age, was executed in
England for witchcraft. We can conclude that people have always been afraid of
what they do not know, beasts and humans both.
These stories about witchcraft have flourished for hundreds of years,
and the fear of it has made people do horrible things. It is unknown how many
lost their lives to the flames, but it is estimated that between the height of
the witch hunt from 1500-1660, 50,000-80,000 people were killed (most of them
Muggles).



Wizarding Villages Shaped by Witch-Hunts



When
these witch-hunts became more popular in the 1500s, many witches and wizards
began secluding themselves in small communities inside larger cities and towns.
They did so because their children were particularly prone to having accidental
magic outbursts before being properly trained, and there was a very real danger
of these small children being accused of witchcraft. Magic folk clung to each
other for social support in these troubled times, sharing life updates with
those that it was safe to talk to, and scarcely socialising much with the
Muggles in the wider community.



Until
1689, these communities were unofficial and were created by witches and wizards
who gravitated together for the social and moral support that came with being
surrounded by similar people. However, in 1689, the International Statute of
Secrecy was signed, and it went into effect three years later, in 1692. While
witch-hunts in England had stopped by 1682, witch-hunts in the wider European
continent and even in the British Colonies in the North American continent had
not yet ceased. In 1692, in fact, there was a huge outbreak of witch-hunt
hysteria in the North American city of Salem, Massachusetts.



The
International Statute of Secrecy aimed to protect witches and wizards globally
from the fear and persecution that they faced at the hands of their Muggle
counterparts. It urged witches and wizards to seclude themselves and live
separately to protect themselves and their children from the misguided ideology
that spurred witch-hunt hysteria. Signed by the International Confederation of
Wizards, the International Statute of Secrecy was widely believed to be the
best possible way to protect both Muggles and witches and wizards from future
persecution. It was this document that led the existing wizarding communities
to be officially recognised as such, though some had existed for over one
hundred years before the Statute was written.



Since
the beginning of time, witches and wizards have lived within Muggle communities
and, often, while using their magical abilities to their fullest extent. While
cohesion in European communities was never as complete as it was in most
ancient communities, there was some acceptance and tolerance in European communities,
though some communities were markedly better at accommodating both magic and
non-magic peoples than others. To understand wizarding villages, one must first
understand how witches and wizards came to desire to be separate, and that all
begins with Muggle witch-hunts.



Hogsmeade



Perhaps
the most famous wizarding village in Britain is Hogsmeade Village, which lies
just outside of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s boundaries. This
village is the only all-magical community in Britain, as opposed to the
abundant ‘communities within communities’ that are most wizarding villages.
This is also one of the oldest wizarding communities, having been founded
between 1010 and 1030. The date remains uncertain because of poorly kept
records of the time, but Hengist of Woodcroft is credited with the founding of
the village after he was run out of his own town by Muggle witch-hunters. Some
lore indicates that Hengist of Woodcroft lived in the Three Broomsticks
building, but there has never been any document to verify this.



Hogsmeade
Village has a long, rich history, partly because of its close connection to
Hogwarts School. It has housed numerous notable witches and wizards over the
centuries and has seen the growth of Hogwarts School from a very personal
perspective as third years and up have been allowed to visit Hogsmeade since
the year 1500 (though this right was briefly suspended during 1612 and again
during 1997 and 1998). Its most notable contribution to history, however, is
that Hogsmeade Village was the location of the goblin rebellion of 1612. The
Three Broomsticks Inn was used as the wizards’ headquarters during the bloody
and deadly rebellion, and this rebellion was the first of many in wizarding
history. After the International Statute of Secrecy was signed in 1689,
Hogsmeade saw an influx of residents, as did every other wizarding village in
Britain at this time.



Godric’s Hollow



Godric’s
Hollow was an unofficial wizarding ‘community within a community’ in the West
Country of England for centuries before the International Statute of Secrecy.
It was the home to many influential families including, unsurprisingly, Godric
Gryffindor. Other notable names include the Dumbledores, the Peverells, Bowman
Wright, the inventor of the Golden Snitch, and the Potters. Prior to the
International Statute of Secrecy, Godric’s Hollow was an unnamed wizarding
community. It had grown into a small collective group of witches and wizards
who leaned on each other for social support, but they had never named the
community. When the International Statute of Secrecy made such communities
official, they chose to name it in honour of Godric Gryffindor, the most well
known one-time resident of the area.



Among
the many well-known happenings in Godric’s Hollow, the most well known is, of
course, the first downfall of Lord Voldemort, when he murdered Lily and James
Potter and tried to kill Harry Potter in 1981. However, this was by far not the
first important historical event to have happened in Godric’s Hollow. A second
important event was the first duel between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert
Grindelwald, which also involved Albus’s brother, Aberforth. This three-way
duel is less publicised than Albus Dumbledore’s later defeat of Grindelwald,
but it was noteworthy nonetheless as it marked the end of a close friendship
between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. It took place in 1899. While these events
are fairly recent, it must not be forgotten that the true legacy of Godric’s
Hollow is that of one of the Hogwarts founders, Godric Gryffindor, lived in
Godric’s Hollow long before it attained that name.



Mould-on-the-Wold



A lesser-known wizarding community than
Godric’s Hollow, Mould-on-the-Wold was another important magical community in
England. Best known as the early childhood home of Albus Dumbledore, it was
first founded in the early 1700s. What makes Mould-on-the-Wold notable is its
relatively late formation as a wizarding village. It is believed by many that
the Dumbledore family was instrumental in its founding, though this is
difficult to prove as much of Percival Dumbledore’s reputation was ruined when
he was jailed in Azkaban for crimes against Muggle children. Mould-on-the-Wold
provided the same solace that Godric’s Hollow and Hogsmeade Village provided
witches and wizards, giving them both company and support during times rife
with conflict between non-magic and magic peoples.



Ottery St. Catchpole



Several wizarding families who were
seeking solace and comfort in each other’s company first established Ottery St.
Catchpole in 1693 in Devon, England. This happened shortly after the
enforcement of the International Statute of Secrecy, and the families involved
chose to settle in the countryside within Devon because it was out of the way
and the Muggles of Devon had historically burned fewer witches than those in other
parts of Britain. Notable residents include the Weasleys and the Fawcetts, as
well as the Lovegoods (of whom the best known member is Xenophilius Lovegood,
renowned for the publication of the news source The Quibbler). There have been no major scandals or security
breaches in Ottery St. Catchpole, and it remains one of the most highly
populated wizarding communities in Great Britain, with several eccentric
houses. Muggles have long since accepted that the architecture is a bit ‘odd’
in Ottery St. Catchpole, but it has become a running joke and is rarely
questioned.



Tinworth



A
coastal community in Cornwall, England, Tinworth was founded around the same
time as Ottery St. Catchpole and for the same reason. The International Statute
of Secrecy was a leading factor in the creation of this community within
Cornwall, where prior to the Statue’s introduction, many witches and wizards
were quite happy living with the tolerant and sometimes Confunded Muggles who
also resided in Cornwall. Tinworth witches and wizards enjoy the coastal
atmosphere, and it is a popular vacation destination for young, particularly
English witches and wizards and those witches and wizards with young children.



Being
a popular vacation spot for many magical families who have children not yet
trained to control their magic, many odd things have been reported in Muggle
news sources in the Cornwall area. However, most of the time, such occurrences
are played down by Muggles as tricks of the light in the bright ocean air or
credited to overindulgence of alcohol by the Muggles. Rarely do memories need
modifying because non-magic peoples are so very desperate to pretend that magic
does not exist, even if it is in plain view. There are few court cases against
the parents of young witches and wizards because of their children’s inability
to control their magic because of Muggles’ propensity to explain away perfectly
logical magical events, but such cases do happen occasionally.



Upper Flagley



A
small wizarding community in Yorkshire, England, Upper Flagley was formed in
the late 1600s after the passage of the International Statute of Secrecy,
though it had existed unofficially, much like Godric’s Hollow, for centuries
before. A large number of wizarding families have settled there for the sense of
community and fellowship that they gain from close quarters. While little of
historical note has happened in Upper Flagley, it is worth mentioning as being
one of the longest lasting and prominent wizarding communities for the past
millennium, only eclipsed by Godric’s Hollow and Hogsmeade Village.



Conclusion



Wizarding
communities have long been part of greater Muggle communities throughout Europe
and Great Britain. In 1692, they were officially recognised by the wizarding
governing bodies in each country that had sent a delegate to the International
Confederation of Wizards, and the unofficial wizarding communities began naming
themselves to distinguish themselves from other villages and also so that other
witches and wizards would know where to go if they were hoping to settle down
in a wizarding community. Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, wizarding communities
gained great popularity, and there are many more than are mentioned in this
section, but these are the most well-known and spoken of in England. Even
today, in the twenty-first century, wizarding villages are the first choice for
many families, particularly families with children, who hope that their
children will have good friends nearby growing up before going to Hogwarts and
on their breaks from school. The International Statute of Secrecy may have made
the villages official, but wizarding communities, around since the beginning of
European settlements, will likely continue indefinitely.