The Shire Calendar (tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien)
- The J.R.R. Tolkien monogram
This is my personal tribute to my favourite writer: J.R.R. Tolkien.
The calendar used by the Hobbits of the Shire divided the year into twelve months which, unlike the irregular months of Roman and modern Europe, were of equal length: every month in the Hobbit year had exactly thirty days.
This totals only 360 days, so the left-over five or six additional days in each year were invested in a pair of festivals, one at each solstice.
The two days of Yule fell around the Winter solstice, between December and January; the first day of Yule was the last day of one year, and the second day of Yule was the new-year’s day of the next. There is an echo of the Yule day: if you see the Bing & Grondahl Christmas Dishes you’ll find the inscription “Jule after YYYY” (where YYYY is the year).
Six months later the festival of Lithe ornamented the Summer solstice, and lasted either three or four days: the first day of Lithe began the festival, followed by Midyear’s Day itself, followed in leap years by an “Overlithe”, and then the festival ended on the second day of Lithe.
In European calendars a given date, like January the first, falls on a different day of the week every year, sometimes it is a Monday, sometimes a Tuesday, sometimes another day.
The Hobbits prevented this disorder by considering neither Midyear’s Day nor, in leap years, the Overlithe, to be a day of the week.
The first twenty-six weeks of the year ran continuously, starting on the second day of Yule (always a “Sterday”, the our Saturday) and ending with the first day of Lithe (always an “Highday” the our Friday).
Then came Midyear’s Day, and the Overlithe in leap-years, making a sort of long weekend; we would think of them as one or two extra days falling between a Saturday of one week and the Sunday of the next.
Then the next Shire week began with the second of Lithe (another time a “Sterday”) , beginning the twenty-six final weeks of the year which ended on the second day of Yule (another time an “Highday”).
Considering that there are seven days and two half of six months, there is not a month that starts with “Highday” (as you can see below in the picture). This explains the Hobbit’s sentence: “Highway first of the month” to indicate an impossible situation (i.e.: “I’ll pay you on Highday first of the month”). This remark reflects the ancient latin sentence: “To put off till greek Kalendae” (as you know, in the greek calendar there aren’t the Kalendae).
The Shire calendar is bonded to the seasons: the first three months of the year are the Winter, then there is the Spring. The Midyear’s Day is the start of Summer; finally the year ends with the last three months that are the Autumn (or Fall, if you want).
Because of this Hobbit innovation that kept the weeks in the same place every year, which they called the Shire-reform, the calendar is always correct, unlike European calendars which have to be printed differently every year.
This is the Shire Calendar (click to enlarge)
If any problems occurs in execution, or if you found a bug, have a suggestion or question just contact me at:
giuseppe dot cardillo-edta at poste dot it
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