Know Your LotRO Lore: Celebrating the holidays Hobbit style
Welcome to Know Your LotRO Lore, a new weekly column here at Massively showcasing the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien's world as it intersects with Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online.
For some, the holidays are already over, but for many they've just begun. Throughout Middle-earth, none are known better for their love of celebrating those holidays than the Hobbits. We've talked about the Hobbits here before on Know Your LotRO Lore, but with the winter festivities in full swing, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to explain more specifically about just why those Hobbits are so infamous for their partying.
Significant holidays
In order to learn about the Hobbit holidays, one must first know the Hobbit calendar. Use of the calendar is known as Shire-reckoning, which began in T.A. 1601, according to the calendars of Men, Dwarves and Elves. Figuring Shire-reckoning dates are easy, as you would simply subtract 1600 from any Third Age date.
The Hobbit calendar is 365 days long, just like ours, yet the 12 months are divided into equal 30-day months. To compensate, five additional days are added to each year in the form of holidays that are not counted within the regular month's days. Although there are many holidays in the Shire, these five days are often considered the major holidays. Below we've compiled a list of every Hobbit holiday and what day they would correspond with in our own Gregorian calendar.
2 Yule - December 22
1 Lithe - June 21
Mid-year's Day - June 22
Overlithe - Leap Day (only on every fourth year except centennial years)
2 Lithe - June 23
1 Yule - December 21
This list may seem a bit awkward to most of us, but Yule 2 was actually their New Year's Day. Mid-year's Day is meant to correspond with the summer solstice and is one of the greatest festivities of the year, along with Yule. In addition to these traditional holidays, most Hobbits also celebrated the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo, which fell on September 22nd.
If this wasn't enough, every Highday, which would be considered our Friday, was filled with evening feasts and festivities.
How they celebrate
The Hobbits rarely needed an excuse to celebrate anything, but these holidays were very important to them and their culture. During the days of the summer holiday (Lithe), the Free Fair was held on the White Downs. Every seventh year at the Free Fair, an election was held for the office of Mayor of Michel Delving.
We are probably all aware of the Hobbit tradition of drinking plenty of ale and eating plenty of food, and these activities were heightened during their holidays. Yet the most important part of any festivity was socializing and giving gifts. On birthdays, it was actually tradition to give presents away instead of receiving them. These gifts were called mathoms, and the best were kept in a museum called a Mathom-house.
Hobbit celebrations in the game
In Hobbiton, just south of Bag End, lies the greatest gathering site for all Hobbit-folk: The Party Tree. This is the infamous spot where Bilbo and Frodo celebrated their birthdays in The Fellowship of the Ring, and where Bilbo gave his farewell speech.
Once again, Turbine has done a wonderful job of bringing that landmark to life for us to enjoy. During most of the year, the Party Tree area contains some remnants of parties past, but no NPCs in which to interact. Yet, four times a year (Lithe, Yule, Harvest and Spring Festivals), the entire Party Field is booming with activity. Dance instructors, Inn League representatives, travelling farmers and more are set up to help us make the most of the holidays.
Conclusion
As you wind down your holiday festivities this next week or so, be sure to think of the Hobbits and how important these holidays are to them. If you haven't participated in the Yule festival yet, you still have time!
As we enter a new year with Know Your LotRO Lore, next week's article will center around the Elves. We'll discuss their origins and varied branches throughout Middle-earth. So until then, keep your mathoms well-kept and always remember: yes, they come in pints.%Gallery-39552%
