'Hobbit Day', So-Called

“I've been celebrating Bilbo and Frodo's birthday (an event that has come to be known as Hobbit Day in the wider world) more of less since I saw my first Tolkien calendar in 1977. For quite a few years, every September 14th I'd try to scrounge up some sort of feast for friends and family, even if it was only some soda and cookies.

“Wait a minute, you might say. The Birthday was on September 22nd. It says so in the book. It's canon, dammit. What's this 14th biz?

“Well, so it does. The story goes Tolkien chose September 22nd as Bilbo's birth date, because that was the day he misremembered as the publication date of The Hobbit (it was actually the 21st). But he also clearly states in the Appendices that there is a difference between the Shire Reckoning and the Gregorian Calendar. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about that:

"Due to the discrepancies between the Shire calendar and the Gregorian calendar there is some debate about when to celebrate Hobbit Day, since the actual birthday would be between September 12 and 14 the Gregorian calendar, as explained in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings." [The movable spread over those dates is due to optional days in the Shire Reckoning.]

“The people who put together those early calendars were loyal nerds of the most devoted stripe and had to set down the "actual" date. The fandom is a little looser, more casual these days, and it is a lot easier just to say "Happy Birthday" on the day it says right there in Chapter One, without worrying about those fusty old calculations in the back.

“So, that's when I celebrate now, too. It is close to the publication of the book that started the whole business (for the public anyway), and most of the geek-world (especially the movie fandom) does it, so it's convenient. But I can't help but feel a little contrarian, and a little bit guilty, even though it's simply wishing two imaginary characters well on their made-up birthday.” – Power of Babel 2014

 

“Tolkien made September 22, the day on which the first copies were purchased and read, Bilbo's and Frodo's birthdays, and the American Tolkien Association has designated as "Tolkien Week" the week in which September 22 falls. --The 1938 Hobbit Project

“How the date of Bilbo's (and Frodo's) birthday corresponds with our calendar is a matter of debate. Appendix D of The Lord of the Rings says that our New Year's Day (January 1) corresponds "more or less" to the Shire's "January 9", and in standard years our September 14 and the Shire's "September 22" both fall 256 days 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." In the Shire calendar, "September" (Halimath) 22 is 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 83 days later, which is our September 12. --Footnote from Tolkien Gateway.” – Power of Babel 2017

 

I know I’ve posted about this many more times, articles which I can’t track down at the moment. Perhaps I’m even confusing certain memories with Ring Day (Sauron’s Downfall) and even my own birthday celebrated in hobbit fashion (giving rather than receiving presents and a feast). But the story of one ‘Birthday’ particularly stands out: the college munchies story. 

So, as I say, I had been celebrating ‘the Birthday’ since the first Tolkien calendar (1978) I ever got. The appropriate elements were somehow deemed to be Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème Pies and Barq's root beer. And the day (because the calendars said so) was September 14^th.

So it rolled along for several years until I was in college. Those were lean years without much cash to spare. But somehow the day before the Birthday I scraped together a few dollars, took a long harrowing shuttle bus to the grocery store, bought the pies and the cheapest bottle of root beer available, and humped it all home, setting them on a little interior window shelf (one of Nanny’s architectural oddities; it used to be an exterior wall), ready for the feast the next day. Imagine my horror when I returned in the morning from classes and found that Mike and his friend Phil, having had a bout of puffing on the devil’s spinach, had decimated my supplies! I had been planning on inviting them to the feast, but this treachery sank my spirits. Looking forward to the treat had been impelling me through the barren week. My ‘sacred elements’ had been used for profane purposes. It took me a while before I got over it (it still rankles a bit, as you can tell).