Hogwarts' Start-Of-Term Feast

> The very best of evenings to you!... Now… to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you...
>
> 1996 Start-of-Term Feast announcements, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The **Start-of-Term Feast**, also known as the **Welcoming Feast** or the **Great Feast**, was the traditional feast of the first night at Hogwarts, welcoming the start of a new school year.

## Event Known Information

### Location

Great Hall, Hogwarts castle, Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

### Date

1 September, 7pm

It was held in the Great Hall on the night of 1 September following the arrival of the students on the Hogwarts Express. The feast was notable for including the Sorting of all new first-year students into their Houses.

## History

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The Start-of-Term Feast was also used to introduce new members of the teaching staff to the student body, and to pass out important announcements and messages concerning the new school year. This was usually done in the form of a speech by the Headmaster or Headmistress. They might also choose to say a few words during this time, such as in 1991, when Albus Dumbledore told the students, "*Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!*", or in ***1994***, when he said *"Tuck in!"*

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Depending on the mood of the Head, the School Song might be sung, to no particular melody other than the individual's choosing. Sometimes, there was a musical presentation by pupils during the feast, for example in 1993, the ***school choir*** led a presentation of ***Something Wicked This Way Comes*** before the announcements.

The ***Divination*** professor Sybill Trelawney usually chose not to attend such events.

## Description

The feast was held in the Great Hall just like all of the other meals at Hogwarts, and was traditionally attended by every student and teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, other than Sybill Trelawney. During the feast, hundreds of plates were set on each of the four House tables and were filled with food magically appearing on the empty plates, prepared by house-elves working in the kitchens below. Likewise, it was emptied by vanishing before their eyes when the feast was complete.

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The types of food served were ***roast beef***, ***roast chicken***, ***pork chops***, ***lamb chops***, ***sausages***, ***bacon***, ***steak***, joints, ***steak and kidney pie***, boiled ***potatoes***, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, ***chips***, Yorkshire pudding, ***peas***, ***carrots***, ***gravy***, ***ketchup***, and ***peppermint humbugs***. For dessert, there were blocks of assorted ice cream, apple pies, spotted dick, chocolate gateau, treacle tart, pumpkin tart, chocolate éclairs & jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, and rice pudding.

## Appearances

* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film) (Disc 2) (Seen through a window)

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film), Chapter 7
2. ↑ Have just heard that James S Potter has been Sorted (to nobody's surprise) into Gryffindor. Teddy Lupin (Head Boy, Hufflepuff) disappointed. posted by JKR on Twitter on 1 September 2015, at 7:18pm