Hobbit Day is an annual observance marking the birthday's of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

HistoryEdit

Hobbit Day was started in 1978 by the American Tolkien Society. Some fans have started celebrating September 22 as Hobbit Day by having parties. Some fans of Tolkien's books also celebrate by going barefoot in honour of the Hobbits, who usually do not wear shoes.

Some students of Tolkien, however, claim that it is a mistake to celebrate those characters' birthday on September 22, as the narrative refers to the Shire Calendar, which diverges significantly from ours. Appendix D of The Lord of the Rings explains that the Shire calendar does not correspond exactly to ours and is in advance of ours by about ten days; Tolkien used the conventional month names January-December as a convenience of translation only. In our calendar, Bilbo's and Frodo's birthday would be our September 12 or 13.^[1]

Most recently, the Middle-earth Network hosted Hobbit Day on 21 September 2012 as marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the publication of the The Hobbit.^[2] Fans also usually celebrate March 25th as the Fall of Sauron.

See alsoEdit

• The Hobbit
• Lord of the Rings
• Hobbit
• Bilbo Baggins
• Frodo Baggins
• Baggins
• Tolkien fandom
• J.R.R. Tolkien

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Appendix D of The Lord of the Rings says that our New Year's Day (January 1) corresponds "more or less" to the Shire "January 9", and our September 13 and the Shire "September 22" both fall exactly 255 days (256 in leap years) after that date. However, Appendix D also says that the Shire calendar's "Midyear's Day" is "intended to correspond as nearly as possible to the summer solstice." Using the "leap year" Shire calendar (the only time Midyear's Day is defined), "September" (Halimath) 22 is exactly 83 days after Midyear's Day. If we take the summer solstice to be our June 21, then Bilbo's and Frodo's birthday must be eighty-three days later, which is our September 12.
2. ↑ http://hobbitday.mymiddleearth.com/

External linksEdit

• Hobbit Day General information website
• Hobbit Day explained at the American Tolkien Society
• Hobbit Day at Wikipedia entry at Wikipedia