Middle-earth calendar
Encyclopedia
Middle-earth calendar refers to one of the systems of keeping time in the fictional Middle-earth devised by J. R. R. Tolkien
and described in The Lord of the Rings
. Because Middle-earth
was intended to be our world in the distant past, the basic structure of the calendar is similar to ours. Tolkien uses his various fictional calendars as a means to present his fiction as an edition and compilation of ancient records from Middle-earth itself.
used in J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth
by the Elves
of Rivendell
. (Imladris is the name of that place in Sindarin
.) It is apparently the only Eldarin calendar described by the Hobbit
s in the Red Book of Westmarch
.
Often translated "year" the word yén is equivalent to 144 of our years. The Elves also have a regular 365-day solar year called coranar meaning "sun-round" or more commonly loa meaning "growth". An Elven day is called a ré of which a yén contains 52,596. An Elven week, used for ritual rather than practicality, contains six days and is called enquië; and a yén contains 8,766 of these enquier. The Elven year, which began near the northward equinox
, is divided into six seasons or 'months' which consist of four 54-day months and two 72-day months. Five or eight extra days outside the seasons make the length of the loa 365 or 368 days. Most years are 365 days, but every twelfth year is 368 days, for an average year length of 365.25 days.
In Rivendell
, the loa began on the spring equinox and was divided into six "months" or seasons, as follows.
Five other days, two between coirë and tuilë and three between yávië and hrívë, meant the calendar added up to 365 days. Irregularities were allowed for by adding another three days every twelve years, except the last year of a yén.
of Middle-earth was called the King's Reckoning, and was very similar to our own. It had a week of seven days, and divided the 365-day year of the Elves into twelve months (astar), ten with 30 days and two with 31. They retained the two days between the end of one year and the start of the next (mettarë and yestarë), but reduced the mid-year days to one (loëndë, essentially adding the other two to the mid-year "long months"). Leap year
s had two mid-year days. In the Second
and Third Age
s, years were reckoned from the beginning of the Age.
Various irregularities occurred in this calendar, especially following the Downfall
. In T.A. 2060, Mardil Voronwë revised the calendar, and the new version became the Steward's Reckoning. The months of Steward's Reckoning all had 30 days, and there were two additional "extra" days at the equinox
es, tuilérë and yáviérë. The five extra days (the equinoxes, midsummer and two at midwinter) were holidays.
In T.A. 3019, the Reunited Kingdom adopted a New Reckoning, which began the year on March 25, the date of the downfall of Sauron
. This made it correspond more closely to the spring beginning of the Elven calendar.
The months of the Reckonings were in Quenya
(or Sindarin among the Dúnedain
) and were:
. For example, the names of the third month of Winter, Súlìmë and Ventôse, both mean 'Windy'. When lined up in this way, most of the month names have matching or similar meanings.
used in J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth
by the Hobbit
s of the Shire
. It was different from that used by the Men
, Dwarves
and Elves
. Use of this calendar in Middle-earth is referred to as Shire-reckoning.
It is closely based on the Germanic calendar
. Year 1 of the Shire Calendar corresponded when the Shire was founded by the Bree
Hobbits Marcho and Blanco in the year 1601 of the Third Age
. Therefore, years of the Third Age can be converted to Shire-years by subtracting 1600. The last year of the Third Age was year 1421 on the Shire calendar. A year in the Shire was the same length as our year - 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds. The Shire's calendar year was also divided into 12 months but all of 30 days. Five additional days were added to create a 365-day year. The months followed the lunar cycle.
For the names of the months, Tolkien used reconstructed names derived from Old English; in other words, they are Tolkien's take on what Modern English would have actually used if it had not adopted Latin names for the months (January, February, March, etc.).
The Yuledays were the days that signify the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one, so 2 Yule was the first day of the year. The Lithedays are the three days in the middle of the year, 1 Lithe, Mid-year's Day, and 2 Lithe. In leap years (every fourth year except centennial years) a day was added after Mid-year's Day called Overlithe. All these days were placed outside of any month. These days were primarily holidays and feast days. Mid-year's Day is meant to correspond to the summer solstice
, which Tolkien describes as being 10 days earlier than the middle day of our year. However, since then the summer solstice has shifted slightly so it falls on a different date now, rendering the difference between Mid-year's Day and the middle day of our year eleven days, instead of ten.
There were seven days in the Shire week. The first day of the week was called Sterday and the last day of the week was called Highday. The Mid-year's Day and, when present, Overlithe had no weekday assignments. This arrangement was used because it caused every day to have the same weekday designation from year to year (instead of changing as in the Gregorian calendar
).
Highday was a holiday with evening feasts.
In The Hobbit
and The Lord of the Rings
, the names of months and days are given in modern equivalents. For instance, Afteryule is called January and Sterday is called Saturday.
. It is mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring
.
Lithe fell between Forelithe, the sixth month of the year, and Afterlithe, the seventh month. In most years there were three Lithedays: 1 Lithe, Midyear's Day, and 2 Lithe. In Leap-years there was a fourth Litheday called Overlithe between Midyear's Day and 2 Lithe. Midyear's Day and Overlithe were not assigned any weekday, while 1 Lithe always fell on a Friday and 2 Lithe was a Saturday. Lithe and the Midwinter holiday called Yule were the two major holidays in the Shire. Lithe was a time of great feasting and merriment. During Lithe, the Free Fair was held on the White Downs, where Hobbit
s gathered to celebrate and to buy and sell goods. Every seven years at the Free Fair during Lithe, an election was held for the office of Mayor of Michel Delving. In the years that Overlithe occurred, it was a day of special celebration. Overlithe fell during the Great Year of Plenty in 3020 after the War of the Ring, and it was the merriest holiday in the history of the Shire.
The word lithe is from the Old English líða. This may have been the name for Midsummer, while ærra Líða and æftera Líða were used for the months June and July. The word lithe means "mild, balmy" in relation to the weather.
The Hobbit
s, who had adopted the King's Reckoning, altered it in a different way from the Steward's Reckoning. Like the Steward's Reckoning, they had twelve months of thirty days, and five holidays outside the months. However, they had three "extra" days in midsummer and two in midwinter, similar to the Elven calendar. In the Shire
the three days of midsummer were called Lithedays, and the two days of midwinter were the Yuledays. In leap years, the extra day was added to the Lithedays and called Overlithe. The other innovation in the Shire calendar was to make Midsummer's Day (and the Overlithe) outside the week, as well as the month, meaning the days of the week would not change in relation to the days of the year. The Shire Reckoning is the calendar used in the Red Book of Westmarch
, and hence in The Lord of the Rings
. It counts from the founding of the Shire in T.A. 1600.
The Hobbit names of the months came from names used in the vales of Anduin
in antiquity, and their meanings were often obscure or forgotten. They were:
(Given the decidedly Old English sound of these names, it can be assumed that this is Tolkien's "translation" of the archaic Westron
.)
Overlithe only occurred in leap years. 2 Yule corresponds with December 22.
, it is in some ways different from the more recently historical Yule
practices in England.
The Shire's fictional Yule consisted of two days called 1 Yule and 2 Yule. The last day of the year was 1 Yule and the first day of the next year was 2 Yule. The Yuledays fell between the months called Foreyule and Afteryule and were not part of either month. 1 Yule was always on a Friday and 2 Yule fell on Saturday.
Yule was one of the two chief holidays in the Shire—the other being the midsummer holiday called Lithe. The Yule celebrations lasted six days in total, including two days before and two days after the Yuledays. This six-day period was called Yuletide. It was a time of feasting and merriment.
After the War of the Ring
, it was feared that the Yule feasts would be rather meagre due to shortages of provisions in the Shire. But large stores of food and beer were found in the tunnels of Michel Delving and in the quarries at Scary and in other places, so the Yuledays were a time of great cheer.
The Elves
did not have a celebration at midwinter. It appears that the Rohirrim maintained the custom of celebrating the midwinter holiday as their ancestors the Northmen
had done. The name of the holiday in Rohan
is not known but it was most likely similar to "Yule."
. The first day of the Dwarves' year is the day that begins the last cycle of the Moon, starting with a New Moon
, to begin in Autumn
. When on this day both the Sun and Moon
may be seen in the sky together, it is called Durin
's Day. Each lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days. When Autumn in the northern hemisphere
is assumed to start on the autumnal equinox, generally on September 22, the season runs until about December 21. The first day of the last new moon of Autumn could thus take place any time between about November 22 and December 21.
However, the seasons in Tolkien's work have the four solar markers at the centre of the seasons, not the beginning. For example, Midsummer occurs on the summer solstice, Midwinter on the winter solstice, etc. Autumn would therefore begin midway between the summer solstice
and the autumnal equinox, around August 6, and end midway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice
, around November 6. That places Durin's Day, the Dwarves' New Year, anytime between about Oct. 7 and Nov. 6, on the last day before the astronomical new moon as the moon sets just before the sun
.
In The Hobbit
, the writing on the map that Gandalf
had received from Thráin II
mentioned Durin's Day. It predicted that on Durin's Day the last light of the Sun as night fell would reveal the secret door
into the Lonely Mountain
.
has analysed the astronomical determinants of Durin's Day. He concluded that like with all real-world lunar calendar
s the calculation of the date of Durin's Day is dependent on the visibility of the first waxing crescent moon, which in turn depends on haze. He states that even for modern real-world astronomers predicting the first visibility of the new moon each month is a difficult task.
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
and described in The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. Because Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
was intended to be our world in the distant past, the basic structure of the calendar is similar to ours. Tolkien uses his various fictional calendars as a means to present his fiction as an edition and compilation of ancient records from Middle-earth itself.
Elven calendar
The Calendar of Imladris is a calendarCalendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
used in J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
by the Elves
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
of Rivendell
Rivendell
Rivendell is an Elven outpost in Middle-earth, a fictional realm created by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was established and ruled by Elrond in the Second Age of Middle-earth...
. (Imladris is the name of that place in Sindarin
Sindarin
Sindarin is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called the Eledhrim or Edhellim in Sindarin....
.) It is apparently the only Eldarin calendar described by the Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
s in the Red Book of Westmarch
Red Book of Westmarch
The Red Book of Westmarch is a fictional manuscript written by hobbits, a conceit of author J. R. R...
.
Often translated "year" the word yén is equivalent to 144 of our years. The Elves also have a regular 365-day solar year called coranar meaning "sun-round" or more commonly loa meaning "growth". An Elven day is called a ré of which a yén contains 52,596. An Elven week, used for ritual rather than practicality, contains six days and is called enquië; and a yén contains 8,766 of these enquier. The Elven year, which began near the northward equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
, is divided into six seasons or 'months' which consist of four 54-day months and two 72-day months. Five or eight extra days outside the seasons make the length of the loa 365 or 368 days. Most years are 365 days, but every twelfth year is 368 days, for an average year length of 365.25 days.
In Rivendell
Rivendell
Rivendell is an Elven outpost in Middle-earth, a fictional realm created by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was established and ruled by Elrond in the Second Age of Middle-earth...
, the loa began on the spring equinox and was divided into six "months" or seasons, as follows.
| Quenya name | Sindarin name | English translation | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| tuilë | ethuil | spring | 54 days |
| lairë | laer | summer | 72 days |
| yávië | iavas | autumn | 54 days |
| quellë | firith | fading | 54 days |
| hrívë | rhîw | winter | 72 days |
| coirë | echuir | stirring | 54 days |
Five other days, two between coirë and tuilë and three between yávië and hrívë, meant the calendar added up to 365 days. Irregularities were allowed for by adding another three days every twelve years, except the last year of a yén.
Númenórean Calendar
The calendar adopted by the MenMan (Middle-earth)
The race of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, refers to humanity and does not denote gender...
of Middle-earth was called the King's Reckoning, and was very similar to our own. It had a week of seven days, and divided the 365-day year of the Elves into twelve months (astar), ten with 30 days and two with 31. They retained the two days between the end of one year and the start of the next (mettarë and yestarë), but reduced the mid-year days to one (loëndë, essentially adding the other two to the mid-year "long months"). Leap year
Leap year
A leap year is a year containing one extra day in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year...
s had two mid-year days. In the Second
Second Age
The Second Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. Tolkien intended for the history of Middle-earth to be considered fictionally as a precursor to the history of the real Earth....
and Third Age
Third Age
The Third Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. The history of Middle-earth is to be taken fictionally as a history of the real Earth....
s, years were reckoned from the beginning of the Age.
Various irregularities occurred in this calendar, especially following the Downfall
Akallabêth
Akallabêth is the fourth part of the fantasy work The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is relatively short, consisting of about thirty pages.-Synopsis:...
. In T.A. 2060, Mardil Voronwë revised the calendar, and the new version became the Steward's Reckoning. The months of Steward's Reckoning all had 30 days, and there were two additional "extra" days at the equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
es, tuilérë and yáviérë. The five extra days (the equinoxes, midsummer and two at midwinter) were holidays.
In T.A. 3019, the Reunited Kingdom adopted a New Reckoning, which began the year on March 25, the date of the downfall of Sauron
Sauron
Sauron is the primary antagonist and titular character of the epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.In the same work, he is revealed to be the same character as "the Necromancer" from Tolkien's earlier novel The Hobbit...
. This made it correspond more closely to the spring beginning of the Elven calendar.
The months of the Reckonings were in Quenya
Quenya
Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...
(or Sindarin among the Dúnedain
Dúnedain
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Dúnedain were a race of Men descended from the Númenóreans who survived the sinking of their island kingdom and came to Eriador in Middle-earth, led by Elendil and his sons, Isildur and Anárion...
) and were:
| Quenya name | Sindarin name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Narvinyë | Narwain | new sun |
| Nénimë | Nínui | watery |
| Súlìmë | Gwaeron | windy / wind month |
| Víressë | Gwirith | new / young / budding? |
| Lótessë | Lothron | flower month |
| Náríë | Nórui | sunny |
| Cermië | Cerveth | cutting? |
| Urimë | Urui | hot |
| Yavannië | Ivanneth | fruit giving |
| Narquelië | Narbeleth | sun-fading |
| Hísimë | Hithui | misty |
| Ringarë | Girithron | cold / shivering month |
Relationship to the French Republican Calendar
According to Jim Allan in An Introduction to Elvish, the Númenórean Calendar was similar to the French Republican CalendarFrench Republican Calendar
The French Republican Calendar or French Revolutionary Calendar was a calendar created and implemented during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871...
. For example, the names of the third month of Winter, Súlìmë and Ventôse, both mean 'Windy'. When lined up in this way, most of the month names have matching or similar meanings.
Hobbit Calendar
The Shire Calendar was a calendarCalendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
used in J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
by the Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
s of the Shire
Shire (Middle-earth)
The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. The Shire refers to an area settled exclusively by Hobbits and largely removed from the goings-on in the rest of Middle-earth. It is located in the northwest of the continent, in...
. It was different from that used by the Men
Man (Middle-earth)
The race of Men in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, refers to humanity and does not denote gender...
, Dwarves
Dwarf (Middle-earth)
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting the world of Arda, a fictional prehistoric Earth which includes the continent Middle-earth....
and Elves
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
. Use of this calendar in Middle-earth is referred to as Shire-reckoning.
It is closely based on the Germanic calendar
Germanic calendar
The Germanic calendars were the regional calendars used amongst the early Germanic peoples, prior to the adoption of the Julian calendar in the Early Middle Ages....
. Year 1 of the Shire Calendar corresponded when the Shire was founded by the Bree
Bree (Middle-earth)
Bree is a fictional village in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, east of the Shire and south of Fornost Erain. It is thought to have been inspired by the Buckinghamshire village of Brill, which Tolkien visited regularly in his early years at Oxford...
Hobbits Marcho and Blanco in the year 1601 of the Third Age
Third Age
The Third Age is a time period from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings. The history of Middle-earth is to be taken fictionally as a history of the real Earth....
. Therefore, years of the Third Age can be converted to Shire-years by subtracting 1600. The last year of the Third Age was year 1421 on the Shire calendar. A year in the Shire was the same length as our year - 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds. The Shire's calendar year was also divided into 12 months but all of 30 days. Five additional days were added to create a 365-day year. The months followed the lunar cycle.
For the names of the months, Tolkien used reconstructed names derived from Old English; in other words, they are Tolkien's take on what Modern English would have actually used if it had not adopted Latin names for the months (January, February, March, etc.).
| Month number | Name | Approximate relationship to Gregorian calendar Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter... |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Yule | 22 December | |
| 1 | Afteryule | 23 December to the 21st of January |
| 2 | Solmath | 22 January to the 20th of February |
| 3 | Rethe | 21 February to the 22nd of March |
| 4 | Astron | 23 March to 21 April |
| 5 | Thrimidge | 22 April to the 21st of May |
| 6 | Forelithe | 22 May to the 20th of June |
| 1 Lithe | 21 June | |
| Mid-year's Day | 22 June | |
| Overlithe | Leap day | |
| 2 Lithe | 23 June | |
| 7 | Afterlithe | 24 June to the 23rd of July |
| 8 | Wedmath | 24 July to the 22nd of August |
| 9 | Halimath | 23 August to the 21st of September |
| 10 | Winterfilth | 22 September to 21 October |
| 11 | Blotmath | 22 October to the 20th of November |
| 12 | Foreyule | 21 November to the 20th of December |
| 1 Yule | 21 December | |
The Yuledays were the days that signify the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one, so 2 Yule was the first day of the year. The Lithedays are the three days in the middle of the year, 1 Lithe, Mid-year's Day, and 2 Lithe. In leap years (every fourth year except centennial years) a day was added after Mid-year's Day called Overlithe. All these days were placed outside of any month. These days were primarily holidays and feast days. Mid-year's Day is meant to correspond to the summer solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
, which Tolkien describes as being 10 days earlier than the middle day of our year. However, since then the summer solstice has shifted slightly so it falls on a different date now, rendering the difference between Mid-year's Day and the middle day of our year eleven days, instead of ten.
There were seven days in the Shire week. The first day of the week was called Sterday and the last day of the week was called Highday. The Mid-year's Day and, when present, Overlithe had no weekday assignments. This arrangement was used because it caused every day to have the same weekday designation from year to year (instead of changing as in the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
).
| Day Name | Meaning | Relationship to Gregorian calendar Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter... |
|---|---|---|
| Sterday | Stars of Varda Varda Varda Elentári is a deity in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium to whom the hymn A Elbereth Gilthoniel is directed..-Character overview:Varda is one of the Valar, a group of semi-divine beings similar to archangels. Also known as "Queen of the stars", she is said to be too beautiful for words; within... |
Saturday Saturday Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday.Saturday is the last day of the week on many calendars and in conventions that consider the week as beginning on Sunday, or the sixth day of the week according to international standard ISO 8601 which was first published in... |
| Sunday | Sun | Sunday Sunday Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. For most Christians, Sunday is observed as a day for worship of God and rest, due to the belief that it is Lord's Day, the day of Christ's resurrection.... |
| Monday | Moon | Monday |
| Trewsday | Two Trees Two Trees of Valinor In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the Two Trees of Valinor are Telperion and Laurelin, the Silver Tree and the Gold that brought light to the Land of the Valar in ancient times... of Valinor Valinor Valinor is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the realm of the Valar in Aman. It was also known as the Undying Lands, along with Tol Eressëa and the outliers of Aman. This is something of a misnomer; only immortal beings were allowed to reside there, but the land itself,... |
Tuesday |
| Hevensday | Heavens | Wednesday |
| Mersday | Sea Belegaer In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Belegaer, the Great Sea or the Sundering Seas, is the sea of Arda that is west of Middle-earth.... |
Thursday |
| Highday | Valar Vala (Middle-earth) The Valar are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are first mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but The Silmarillion develops them into the Powers of Arda or the Powers of the World... |
Friday Friday Friday is the day between Thursday and Saturday. In countries adopting Monday-first conventions as recommended by the international standard ISO 8601, it is the fifth day of the week. It is the sixth day in countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention as in Abrahamic tradition... |
Highday was a holiday with evening feasts.
In The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
and The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, the names of months and days are given in modern equivalents. For instance, Afteryule is called January and Sterday is called Saturday.
Lithe
Lithe is a Midsummer holiday in the ShireShire (Middle-earth)
The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. The Shire refers to an area settled exclusively by Hobbits and largely removed from the goings-on in the rest of Middle-earth. It is located in the northwest of the continent, in...
. It is mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place in the fictional universe Middle-earth. It was originally published on July 29, 1954 in the United Kingdom...
.
Lithe fell between Forelithe, the sixth month of the year, and Afterlithe, the seventh month. In most years there were three Lithedays: 1 Lithe, Midyear's Day, and 2 Lithe. In Leap-years there was a fourth Litheday called Overlithe between Midyear's Day and 2 Lithe. Midyear's Day and Overlithe were not assigned any weekday, while 1 Lithe always fell on a Friday and 2 Lithe was a Saturday. Lithe and the Midwinter holiday called Yule were the two major holidays in the Shire. Lithe was a time of great feasting and merriment. During Lithe, the Free Fair was held on the White Downs, where Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
s gathered to celebrate and to buy and sell goods. Every seven years at the Free Fair during Lithe, an election was held for the office of Mayor of Michel Delving. In the years that Overlithe occurred, it was a day of special celebration. Overlithe fell during the Great Year of Plenty in 3020 after the War of the Ring, and it was the merriest holiday in the history of the Shire.
The word lithe is from the Old English líða. This may have been the name for Midsummer, while ærra Líða and æftera Líða were used for the months June and July. The word lithe means "mild, balmy" in relation to the weather.
The Hobbit
Hobbit
Hobbits are a fictional diminutive race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction.Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, in which the main protagonist, Bilbo Baggins, is the titular hobbit...
s, who had adopted the King's Reckoning, altered it in a different way from the Steward's Reckoning. Like the Steward's Reckoning, they had twelve months of thirty days, and five holidays outside the months. However, they had three "extra" days in midsummer and two in midwinter, similar to the Elven calendar. In the Shire
Shire (Middle-earth)
The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. The Shire refers to an area settled exclusively by Hobbits and largely removed from the goings-on in the rest of Middle-earth. It is located in the northwest of the continent, in...
the three days of midsummer were called Lithedays, and the two days of midwinter were the Yuledays. In leap years, the extra day was added to the Lithedays and called Overlithe. The other innovation in the Shire calendar was to make Midsummer's Day (and the Overlithe) outside the week, as well as the month, meaning the days of the week would not change in relation to the days of the year. The Shire Reckoning is the calendar used in the Red Book of Westmarch
Red Book of Westmarch
The Red Book of Westmarch is a fictional manuscript written by hobbits, a conceit of author J. R. R...
, and hence in The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. It counts from the founding of the Shire in T.A. 1600.
The Hobbit names of the months came from names used in the vales of Anduin
Anduin
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Anduin is the Sindarin name for the Great River of Wilderland, the longest river in the Third Age . The ancestors of the Rohirrim called it Langflood. It flowed from its source in the Grey and Misty Mountains to the Mouths of Anduin in the Great Sea...
in antiquity, and their meanings were often obscure or forgotten. They were:
| Shire name | Bree name |
|---|---|
| 2 Yule | 2 Yule |
| Afteryule | Frery |
| Solmath | Solmath |
| Rethe | Rethe |
| Astron | Chithing |
| Thrimidge | Thrimidge |
| Forelithe | Lithe |
| 1 Lithe | First Summerday |
| Midyear's Day | Second Summerday |
| Overlithe | Third Summerday |
| 2 Lithe | Third/Fourth Summerday |
| Afterlithe | Mede |
| Wedmath | Wedmath |
| Halimath | Harvestmath |
| Winterfilth | Wintring |
| Blotmath | Blooting |
| Foreyule | Yulemath |
| 1 Yule | 1 Yule |
(Given the decidedly Old English sound of these names, it can be assumed that this is Tolkien's "translation" of the archaic Westron
Westron
Westron, or the Common Speech, is a fictional language in the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien.Westron is the closest thing to a lingua franca in Middle-earth, at least at the time during which The Lord of the Rings is set. "Westron" is an invented English word, derived from West...
.)
Overlithe only occurred in leap years. 2 Yule corresponds with December 22.
Yule
Although Yule is celebrated in the midwinter in the ShireShire (Middle-earth)
The Shire is a region of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, described in The Lord of the Rings and other works. The Shire refers to an area settled exclusively by Hobbits and largely removed from the goings-on in the rest of Middle-earth. It is located in the northwest of the continent, in...
, it is in some ways different from the more recently historical Yule
Yule
Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...
practices in England.
The Shire's fictional Yule consisted of two days called 1 Yule and 2 Yule. The last day of the year was 1 Yule and the first day of the next year was 2 Yule. The Yuledays fell between the months called Foreyule and Afteryule and were not part of either month. 1 Yule was always on a Friday and 2 Yule fell on Saturday.
Yule was one of the two chief holidays in the Shire—the other being the midsummer holiday called Lithe. The Yule celebrations lasted six days in total, including two days before and two days after the Yuledays. This six-day period was called Yuletide. It was a time of feasting and merriment.
After the War of the Ring
War of the Ring
In the fictional high fantasy-world of J. R. R. Tolkien, the War of the Ring was fought between Sauron and the free peoples of Middle-earth for control of the One Ring and dominion over the continent. The War of the Ring took place at the end of the Third Age. Together with the Quest of Mount Doom,...
, it was feared that the Yule feasts would be rather meagre due to shortages of provisions in the Shire. But large stores of food and beer were found in the tunnels of Michel Delving and in the quarries at Scary and in other places, so the Yuledays were a time of great cheer.
The Elves
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Elves are one of the races that inhabit a fictional Earth, often called Middle-earth, and set in the remote past. They appear in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, but their complex history is described more fully in The Silmarillion...
did not have a celebration at midwinter. It appears that the Rohirrim maintained the custom of celebrating the midwinter holiday as their ancestors the Northmen
Northmen (Middle-earth)
J. R. R. Tolkien adopted the term Northmen in his fiction; his "Northmen" were Men that lived in the north of Rhovanion in Middle-earth, and were friendly to Gondor....
had done. The name of the holiday in Rohan
Rohan
Rohan is a realm in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy era of Middle-earth. It is a grassland which lies north of its ally Gondor and north-west of Mordor, the realm of Sauron, their enemy . It is inhabited by the Rohirrim, a people of herdsmen and farmers who are well-known for their horses and cavalry....
is not known but it was most likely similar to "Yule."
Durin's Day
Durin's Day is a rare event noted by DwarvesDwarf (Middle-earth)
In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting the world of Arda, a fictional prehistoric Earth which includes the continent Middle-earth....
. The first day of the Dwarves' year is the day that begins the last cycle of the Moon, starting with a New Moon
New moon
In astronomical terminology, the new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth...
, to begin in Autumn
Autumn
Autumn is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter usually in September or March when the arrival of night becomes noticeably earlier....
. When on this day both the Sun and Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
may be seen in the sky together, it is called Durin
Durin
Durin is the name of seven Kings of Dwarves in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They were held by the Dwarves to be the reincarnations of the first one, Durin the Deathless, resembling him in appearance and said to have preserved memories of their 'earlier lives'.Tolkien took the name Durin, like...
's Day. Each lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days. When Autumn in the northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
is assumed to start on the autumnal equinox, generally on September 22, the season runs until about December 21. The first day of the last new moon of Autumn could thus take place any time between about November 22 and December 21.
However, the seasons in Tolkien's work have the four solar markers at the centre of the seasons, not the beginning. For example, Midsummer occurs on the summer solstice, Midwinter on the winter solstice, etc. Autumn would therefore begin midway between the summer solstice
Summer solstice
The summer solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. Though the summer solstice is an instant in time, the term is also...
and the autumnal equinox, around August 6, and end midway between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
, around November 6. That places Durin's Day, the Dwarves' New Year, anytime between about Oct. 7 and Nov. 6, on the last day before the astronomical new moon as the moon sets just before the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
.
In The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, the writing on the map that Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
had received from Thráin II
Thráin II
Thráin II is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He is first mentioned in The Hobbit, and more of his history is given in Unfinished Tales.A Dwarven king, Thráin is the son of Thrór and father of Thorin Oakenshield...
mentioned Durin's Day. It predicted that on Durin's Day the last light of the Sun as night fell would reveal the secret door
Secret passage
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel. Such passageways are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow occupants to enter or exit buildings without being seen...
into the Lonely Mountain
Lonely Mountain
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, the Lonely Mountain is a mountain in the northeast of Rhovanion. It is also the source of the Celduin river.- Origins of the Kingdom Under the Mountain :...
.
Reception
Astronomer Bradley E. SchaeferBradley E. Schaefer
Dr. Bradley E. Schaefer is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Louisiana State University. He received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983....
has analysed the astronomical determinants of Durin's Day. He concluded that like with all real-world lunar calendar
Lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...
s the calculation of the date of Durin's Day is dependent on the visibility of the first waxing crescent moon, which in turn depends on haze. He states that even for modern real-world astronomers predicting the first visibility of the new moon each month is a difficult task.
Sources
- The Return of the KingThe Return of the KingThe Return of the King is the third and final volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.-Title:...
: "The Grey Havens," p. 302 - Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings: "The House of Eorl," p. 347
- "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings," p. 200-201
External links
- The Reckoning of Time An analysis of several calendar systems of Ennor, aiming for comprehension and usability.
- The Shire month-names explained Etymological meaning of the month names of the Shire Calendar
- Notes and calculation for 'present' Durin's Days (Calculates the first day of the first moon of autumn, not the last moon of autumn.)