Have A Happy Hobbit Holiday

But that March 25 was not our March 25. Gondor's March 25 would correspond to March 27, today. To further confuse matters, the Shirefolk didn't use the same calendar as Gondor. In fact, though many people today will point out that December 25 (established by the Roman Church after 310 BCE and accepted by the Eastern church in the 5th century) falls close to the Winter Solstice, the Hobbits' calendar would have placed Christmas around January 2 (and their Solstice observations would have put the Winter Solstice in the two Yule days between their December 30 and January 1). Ancient pagans did indeed celebrate the Solstice as a holiday, and there were many religions which observed the Solstice. The Roman church is believed to have selected the Solstice date to celebrate the birth of Jesus as a means of assuming control over popular holidays. It was a shrewd gesture. The people who wanted to party were still encouraged to do so, but instead of hearing about pagan gods they heard about Jesus during the formal observations of the holidays. So many traditional stories were lost through the generations as the old storytellers died or forgot their heritage. So, back to the Hobbits. Did they celebrate holidays? Yes. They observed the Summer Solstice, which in their calendar was called Mid-year's day (the midmost of three Lithe days). A special leap-year day called Overlithe was added after Mid-years's Day. They also observed Yuletide, six days of feasting at the end and beginning of each year (so, technically, the celebration of Yuletide coincided with Christmas, ending on January 2). The Hobbits had an impact on the Gondorian calendar system, however, when September 22 (Frodo's birthday) was made a feast day to celebrate his tremendous effort and sacrifice on behalf of all Middle-earth. Some people have suggested that Frodo is a Christ-like figure, but that issue is best left alone for now. The festival was not celebrated in the Shire (nor the March 25 festival) but the people around Hobbiton Hill in Westfarthing took up the custom of celebrating April 6. They weren't sure of why they celebrated this day, but the chronology in The Lord of the Rings indicate the mallorn Sam planted in the Party Field first blossomed on this day in 3020 (Shire Reckoning 1420). The people of the Buckland blew the Horn of Rohan which Eowyn and Eomer gave to Meriadoc every November 2 to

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