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LoTR Fans: The Birthday WAS September 14, NOT the 22nd!

September 21, 2003 at 01:08:02

Millions of loyal Tolkien fans around the world may observe the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins on the wrong day....

Why is that? Because readers often forget that Tolkien's Shire calendar is not the same as the calendar we grew up with. This year, his September 22 falls on our September 14.

Tolkien's Shire calendar system is explained in Appendix D to The Lord of the Rings. All of the months have 30 days in them, but there are also 5 extra days (in non-leap years) which are placed at the beginning of the year, in the middle, and at the end.

In his discussion of the Shire Calendar, Tolkien noted that "the Shire-dates were actually in advance of ours by some ten days, and our New Year's Day corresponded more or less to the Shire January 9."

Uh oh.

If you've been waiting all year to observe The Birthday, you just missed it.

Our January would correspond to the Shire's January 9 through February 10.

The following chart shows how the Shire Calendar and the Modern Calendar compare. So, if you didn't toast the Baggins Boys on September 14, you'll have to wait until next year to do it in a timely fashion.

SHIRE	MODERN
January 9	January 1
January 30	January 22
February 1	January 23
February 9	January 31
February 10	February 1
February 30	February 21
March 1	February 22
March 7	February 28
March 8	March 1
March 30	March 23
April 1	March 24
April 8	March 31
April 9	April 1
April 30	April 22
May 1	April 23
May 8	April 30
May 9	May 1
May 30	May 22
June 1	May 23
June 9	May 31
June 10	June 1
June 30	June 21
Lithe	June 22
Mid-Year's Day	June 23
Lithe	June 24
July 1	June 25
July 6	June 30
July 7	July 1
July 30	July 24
August 1	July 25
August 7	July 31
August 8	August 1
August 30	August 23
September 1	August 24
September 8	August 31
September 9	September 1
September 22	September 14
September 30	September 22
October 1	September 23
October 8	September 30
October 9	October 1
October 30	October 22
November 1	October 23
November 9	October 31
November 10	November 1
November 30	November 21
December 1	November 22
December 9	November 30
December 10	December 1
December 30	December 21
Yule	December 22
Yule	December 23
January 1	December 24
January 8	December 31