Start-of-Term Feast

**"Point me!"**

This article is about **the feast starting the feast starting the Hogwarts school year**. You may be looking for **the feast starting the Triwizard Tournament**.

## Event information

### Location

Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

### Participant(s)

* Hogwarts Students
* Hogwarts Staff
* Hogwarts Ghosts

### Description

A Feast held on the first day of school term

"*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…*"
—Albus Dumbledore starts his announcements over the 1996 Start-of-Term Feast[src]

The **Start-of-Term Feast**, also known as the **Great Feast**, is the traditional feast of the first night at Hogwarts and welcomes the start of the school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is held in the Great Hall on the night of 1 September following the arrival of the students on the Hogwarts Express. The Welcoming Feast is notable for including the Sorting of all new first year students into their Houses.

## History

**Albus Dumbledore**: "*Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you.*"
**Harry Potter**: "*Is he — a bit mad?*"
**Percy Weasley**: "*Mad? He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?*"
— Harry Potter and Percy Weasley's reaction to Dumbledores 1991 Start-of-Term speech[src]

The Start-of-Term Feast is 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 is usually done in the form of a speech by the Headmaster or Headmistress. They may 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!"* Hereby, depending on the mood of the Head, the School Song may be sung, to no particular melody other than the individual's choosing. Sometimes, there is 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.

Divination professor Sybill Trelawney usually chose not to attend such functions.

In the 1995–1996 school year, the Ministry-implanted teacher, Dolores Umbridge, interrupted Dumbledore's welcoming speech at the end of the feast, which no other new teachers had ever done before, something the students found amusing. Umbridge went on to insult the students by speaking down on them as though they were five-year old children, and then began a very dull speech that most students simply wandered off into chatter (some Prefects pretended to listen to live up to their duties), with Umbridge continuing ignorantly. The other teachers and Hermione Granger knew the very meaning of the speech: "*the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts*".

## Description

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

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