wizarding america 101

welcome to wizarding america! while we have plenty in common with our magical community across the pond, there are some key differences in day-to-day life and culture. this quick guide will help you navigate the basics. sources are linked wherever possible if you’re looking for more information, but we consider the below overview everything you need to know for joining archway. we’ve also taken a few creative liberties to add more details where necessary (or just for fun)! currency: while the u.k. use galleons, sickles and knuts, the wizarding currency in the united states consists of dragots and sprinks. the dragot is manufactured as octagonal and round coins in 1, ½ and ¼ denominations and the sprink is a smaller subdivision of the dragot. education: americans receive their magical education at ilvermorny school of witchcraft and wizardry, located on mount greylock in massachusetts. ilvermorny is known as one of the most democratic, least elitist of all the great wizarding schools of the world. students are sorted into four houses: thunderbird, horned serpent, wampus, and pukwudgie. current headmaster is agilbert fontaine. food & drink: in the world of harry potter, food and drink mostly consists of traditional british dishes while the magical district of new york city consists of a vast number of options thanks to it's nature as a melting pot. government: headquartered in the woolworth building in downtown manhattan, the magical congress of the united states of america (MACUSA for short) is the democratic governing body of the american magical community. unlike no-maj congress, which has both a senate and house of representatives, MACUSA is made up of one congressional body of representatives that are elected by magical communities all over the country. current president is samuel g. quahog. media: the new york ghost serves as the primary source for all news and alerts in new york city. the united states also has their own magical radio network like the united kingdom's wizarding wireless network, called american radio frequency aka the a.r.f. no-majs: the american term for non-magical people. until its repeal in 1965, rappaport’s law forbade the magical community from having any relationship with the no-maj world. "no-maj-born" is the american term for a magical person born to non-magical parents. prejudices: pure-blood elitism never made its way to america due to the salem witch trials driving most magical families out of the states. the amount of remaining pure-bloods were very few and, as a result, america saw a dramatic increase in no-maj-born wizards and witches. sports: while quidditch is still played stateside, quodpot is far more popular as a sport. two teams of eleven face off on a pitch and try to sink the quod, an explosive ball, into the other team’s pot before it detonates. there is a national quodpot association with state teams and an annual quodpot cup. think of quidditch as the european football to quodpot’s american football. transportation: wizards and witches in america also apparate and use floo and portkeys as means of travel. in new york, they also use a cab service for wizards called WOOSH (wizarding omnidirectional occupiable shuttle hail). to hail a WOOSH, wizards simply wave their wand and say, “accio WOOSH!” their ride will show up moments later, ready to transport them safely to their destination for a small fee. wands: as of the 20th century, there are several established wandmakers in america (shikoba wolfe, johannes jonker, thiago quintana, and violetta beauvais). students do not receive their wands until their sorting ceremony at ilvermorny and are not permitted to take their wands off school grounds until they are 17. until 1965, american witches and wizards were required by law to carry a wand permit but that is no longer the case.