Pavee Wizard
Just as Pavees (or Irish Travellers / Gypsies) represent an ethnic minority within the British Isles, Pavee Wizards are, very much, a minority among the wizarding community. Most Pavee Wizards demonstrate a distinct mixture of the culture of both the Pavee and Magical worlds.
Location of Subculture
Throughout Great Britain and Ireland - Due to the advantages of magic Pavee Wizards have more freedom than most Irish Travellers when it comes to moving between the two British Isles. Most have used magic to allow them to move their vardos and nimals more easily and freely between the Islands.
Current Pavee Witches and Wizards at AO
- Deaglan McDonough - Wandmaker
- Mairead ó Fearghail - First Year Gryffindor
A Genetic History of Pavee Wizards
Origins of Magic in Pavee Families
Due to its history of being a largely isolated and closed culture from that of settled Britain, Pavees are, genetically, a muggle culture. Most of the magical influence coincides with the muggle influence in Pavee history. While Pavees have always suffered from discrimination and a negative stigma, there were two periods in Irish history during which individuals from the settled world joined with the nomadic groups: Merlin's era when tax mongering forced many individuals into homelessness and again during Oliver Cromwell's military campaign which forced many Irish citizens (including a few scattered wizards) from their homes. All Pavee Wizards can trace their lineage back to a handful of wizards who, during these times, left the settled life and chose to intermarry with an Irish Travellers.
As Pavee Wizards were so few and far between, most Pavee Wizards were forced to decide between marrying a fellow muggle wizard and settling or a fellow Pavee. Over many generations of marrying muggles, what wizarding genetic material there was became increasingly dilute.
In the modern era, the wizarding blood is so dilute in most Pavees that Pavee Wizards are even less prevalent in the Irish Traveller populations than Wizards are in the population of Britain as a whole. All Pavee Wizards are muggleborn for many generations and it's only by pure chance that any traces of wizarding blood in two parents is strong enough that, when combined in the offspring, the wizarding ability is revitalized in the child. They are, very much, a minority.
Population Size
With only about 3500 Wizards in Britain, at roughly 0.005% of the overall population of the British Isles, wizards as a whole are a minority in themselves. With only 52,000 Irish Travellers in the United Kingdom and Ireland and a much lower prevalence of wizarding blood in the culture, at any given time, there is only an extremely small handful of Pavee Wizards in Britain.
Complications of Marriage
Though the practice has become less common in modern times, marriages were often arranged long before a family becomes aware of a child's magical potential. As a result, the tradition of most Pavee Wizards being forced to choose to marry a muggle Pavee or a settled wizard persisted into the current generations. Because of the relative weakness of magical potential in Pavee Wizards, unless by pure chance there's enough of a trace of magical ability in their spouse, it isn't common for the child of a marriage between a Pavee wizard and a muggle Pavee to be a wizard themselves.
General Cultural Notes
About Pavees In General
Irish Travellers are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group which has existed for centuries. Often they are mistakenly considered part of the nomadic Romani, an ethnic group which originated in the region of India and is now widespread throughout Europe. The Irish Travellers are indigenous to Ireland. The two cultures are not related. While both are nomadic, the Irish Travellers are Roman Catholic and speak a language that is theirs alone. They have their own culture, customs, traditions, and language. They are noted for their musical and story telling abilities.
In times past, they traveled by horse drawn wagon in caravans, making camp along the way. Tinsmithing, horse trading and peddling were the major sources of income in those days. Tinsmiths were so prevalent among Irish Travellers that the terms Tinker and Irish Traveller were used interchangeably. Today, Tinker is one of many derogatory terms for Irish Traveller.
Horses and wagons have given way to mobile homes pulled by motor vehicles. They continue their life on the road, but there are fewer places to stop and fewer places where they are welcome. Today, Irish Travellers mainly work in recycling. Changing needs of society and progress have eliminated the jobs that could support a culture on wheels. Just as, in terms of technology, Wizarding culture tends to be behind that of muggle cultures, most Pavee Wizards still choose to use the traditional horse-drawn vardos.
Irish Travellers are poor, undereducated, and on the receiving end of discrimination. Their life expectancy is lower than average while their infant mortality rate is higher than average. As is the case with the Romani, the Irish Travellers are seen by many as a group of immoral, ignorant, criminals and con artists. People distrust their nomadic culture and their language, Shelta. Many think it’s a secret language specifically developed as a tool to help the Irish Travellers trick innocent people. However, it is an old language, which has evolved with time and circumstances. Once heavily infused with Irish Gaelic, it is now infused with English.
Pavees have a long history of dog and horse breeding - both for their own use as well as for sales. Lurchers, a type of mixed sight hound, are the dog breed of choice. Gypsy cobs, or Vanners, is the breed most often seen pulling vardos. They have a long-standing interest in horse trading and frequently sell their livestock at the Ballinasloe Fair in Ireland and the Appleby Fair in the U.K.
The Irish Government and many private organizations are attempting to eradicate the racism suffered by the Travellers and to address their problems. In the past thirty years, laws have been passed in an attempt to stop the racism and alleviate the problems of poverty as well as a lack of health care and education. Results have been mixed. Early on, the government attempted to help the Irish Travellers by trying to assimilate them into Irish society. Eventually, the government realized that the they didn’t want help at the cost of giving up their culture. Civil rights has become the focus. Anti-hate laws as well as laws prohibiting discrimination against Irish Travellers in employment and education have been passed over the course of the last several years. The Irish Travellers have organized to lobby for their rights. On a broader scale, they have joined Romani groups to call attention to the problems of all the nomadic cultures throughout Europe.
Cultural Implications of the Genetic History in Wizarding Britain
While true Pavee Wizards represent a minority amongst the Wizarding community and Pavees, due to the traditional folkloric nature of Pavee culture, magic is featured quite prevalently in stories and songs. Despite being, primarily, Roman Catholic, many magical themes, such as fairies and the magical legends of Tir na nOg are prominantly featured in the culture. A belief in the mystical has been slower to die in Pavee culture than in Muggle culture as a whole. Due to this element, though traditionally muggle, most Pavees are much more accepting and trusting of magic than the settled muggle cultures.
Because of this acceptance of the possibility for the magical there is a tendency for non-wizarding Pavees to claim magical ability. There are far more Pavees who claim the ability to read fortunes and palms than there are true Pavee Wizards. Whether these individuals possess some latent magical sensitivity from the diluted wizarding genetic material, somewhat on par with squibs from pureblood families, is subject to debate.
How Most Wizards View Pavee Wizards
How wizards view Pavee Wizards is a very individual situation. Due to their smaller numbers and due to the wizarding world's tendency to linger in traditions from the past, most wizarding populations as a whole are more tolerant and accepting of the nomadic Pavee Wizards than most settled muggle communities. However, it's common knowledge that all Pavee Wizards are muggleborn. And, many Pavee Wizards enter Hogwarts and the wizarding world with the same challenges that force them to deal with discrimination amongst muggle communities: lack of education, lack of sufficient health care in childhood and distinct cultural differences.
Pavees at Hogwarts
Just as with the wizarding community at large, Pavee Wizards are few and far between at Hogwarts. It's extremely rare for the school to see more than one Pavee student at any given time. There are, however, certainly some similarities amongst these students. While, like most muggleborns, they are unfamiliar with the presence of magic before coming to Hogwarts, most are more familiar with the likelihood due to the presence of magical folklore in their culture. Most have not been received any education prior to coming to Hogwarts and most struggle with reading and writing. The transition to the settled lifestyle at Hogwarts can be especially challenging.
