We interpret a harmonic Maass form as a variant of a local cohomology class of the modular curve. This is not only amenable to algebraic interpretation, but also nicely generalized to other Shimura varieties, avoiding the barrier of Koecher's principle, which could be useful for developing a generalization of Borcherds lifts. In this talk, we will exhibit how the theory looks like in the case of Hilbert modular varities.