# Do you celebrate Durin's Day?



## lotrfox

A week ago was Durin's Day for this year, and I had no idea how to celebrate it. I looked but no one had posted anything about it. I ended up just going out to eat for Dwarves are always up for a big feast. Yet I'm not sure I differentiated it too well from my celebration of Hobbit Day: a 7-course meal to go along with the movies, which play for the duration of the day and of course, fireworks. So I was wondering, how do you all celebrate Durin's Day, if you do?


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## Felix

Hi there!
Personally, I had no idea that it was last week. However, now you have mentioned it, I think I'm going to celebrate it next year. I would definitely agree that some sort of feast is a great idea, however the people you would have to celebrate with would have to know about Durin's Day. This means that you would have to have specific people to accompany you at your celebratory feast. Despite all this, I'll be sure to celebrate it next year!


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## Squint-eyed Southerner

I always go out and try to find a hidden door in the side of a mountain, and wait to see if the last light of the sun shines on the keyhole.

No luck so far.


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## Nameless Thing

Never thought about it, but it's suhh a cute idea! What is Hobbit Day? The birthday of Frodo and Bilbo?


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## lotrfox

Nameless Thing - Yes, precisely! Hobbit Day is Bilbo's and Frodo's birthdays. Always celebrated on September 22nd. 

Durin's Day obviously is the dwarvish new year and changes every year since it is based on the lunar calendar. I found online that supposedly they are supposedly these dates:
2018 9 October
2019 29 October
2020 17 October
2021 6 October
2022 25 October
2023 15 October
2024 3 October
2025 21 October
Although, I haven't found anything past that.

And then I also want to start celebrating Tolkien Reading Day, which I assume is more known than the other two (perhaps?). This is on March 25th, to celebrate the date of the destruction of the ring.

Past these three, I haven't found many concrete/important holidays. If anyone knows of any, I would love to hear! Though as I mentioned before, I have absolutely no idea just how to celebrate these events. My go-to is just to binge-watch all 9 discs (3 for the hobbit and 6 for the extended edition lotr), but I'd prefer to do something a bit more unique.


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## Nameless Thing

I think Durin's Day could be celebrated by something dwarves like: going to the mountains, or visiting a cave or a mine. If you have nothing like that in your area, you could go to a museum about geology or ancient metalworks or jewelleries or something like this. At least I have the feeling that these are things a dwarf would enjoy on his day off.


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## BeleriandElf

An astronomy group I had belonged to always enjoyed attempting to calculate Durin's Day every year and then "celebrating" by simply wishing each other A Good Durin's Day To You My Friend. Unfortunately the group no longer exists, but not a year goes by without me searching online for an estimated day and making note of it. Apparently this year it's October 29th. I know - so many variables that could make this the wrong date, but no matter ... I think this year I may cook a small feast for some friends and we will click our mugs of ale together to honor the day.


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## Olorgando

Ew no, any of this lunar calendar stuff, or lunisolar, as the calculation of Easter is in Christianity, (and I'm not going near the Maya calendar with a thousand-foot pole!), belongs to those things that definitely do not tickle my fancy. Easter and a handful of holidays that have fixed distances to it (plus/minus) I can look up in any run-of-the-mill calendar to be had for free from pharmacies, newspaper publishers and whatnot for free.
But then, wouldn't JRRT-dedicated calendars have entries for these Middle-earth-specific remembrance days? Anybody know?


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## Alcuin

I first read _The Hobbit_ 46 years ago. I always interpreted “the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter” to mean the first appearance of the moon (month) that ended before the beginning of winter on December 21, the winter solstice. That would always put Durin’s Day in the first three weeks of November or the last week of October. I had no idea Tolkien was using an October moon as his Durin’s Day.

What then is “the threshold of Winter”? It sounds as if Tolkien is using the moon before the moon I just described.

So I did a little searching, and here’s what might be going on.

“Midsummer Day” is summer solstice, June 21 in our calendar, “Lithe” in Tolkien’s calendar. Summer begins 46 days before Lithe, and ends 46 days after Lithe. “Winter” in Tolkien’s calendar apparently begins halfway between summer autumn equinox, September 21 in our calendar, and winter solstice, December 21 in our calendar, “Yule” (“midwinter”) in Tolkien’s calendar. That means Tolkien’s “winter” begins around our November 5.

The Shire calendar designates the month ending October _Winterfilth_, corresponding to Anglo-Saxon _Winterfylleth_ in the calendar of the Venerable Bede of Jarrow. Wikipedia offers this citation from Bede for Winterfylleth:
​The old English people split the year into two seasons, summer and winter, placing six months — during which the days are longer than the nights — in summer, and the other six in winter. They called the month when the winter season began Ƿintirfylliþ, a word composed of “winter” and “full moon”, because winter began on the first full moon of that month.​​The Dwarves were apparently using a lunar calendar, and they timed the beginning of their months by their sighting of the thin curving nail of the first appearance of the moon following a new moon. When the thin lunar crescent appeared in the sky with the setting sun – that is, the setting sun in the west and the rising crescent moon in the east – that was Durin’s Day.

Waxing moons always rise before sunset and set before sunrise. Waning moons always rise after sunset and set after sunrise. Every year, there is a “Durin’s Day”, but some years the crescent will be thinner than others: It is difficult to make out the barely-crescent moon on the horizon.

The Babylonians calculated mean lunation (the length of the lunar month) very accurately, to 29.530594 days, a figure still used (as I understand matters) by rabbis to calculate the Jewish calendar, which has been in continuous use for at least 3332 years, albeit with some minor tweaks and adjustments, and this despite the Diaspora of the past two millennia. Why the Dwarves could not track their calendar with similar accuracy, I do not know: perhaps this was a result of their diaspora, or perhaps those Dwarves who were most expert at tracking their lunar calendar were slain or scattered in Smaug’s sack and ruin of Erebor.


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## Olorgando

Alcuin said:


> …..
> When the thin lunar crescent appeared in the sky with the setting sun – *that is, the setting sun in the west and the rising crescent moon in the east* – that was Durin’s Day.
> …..


If JRRT actually wrote this, then Durin's Day is an astronomical impossibility.
With a setting sun in the west, the only thing that can be rising in the east simultaneously is a (near) full moon.
_(All of this is only properly viewable on the high seas with no land in sight; we have buildings and trees all round that obscure our true horizon up to quite a height.)_
That is why a full lunar eclipse is only possible at full moon - as a full solar eclipse only at new moon.
The thin lunar waxing crescent appearing in the sky (actually _*becoming visible*_ when the sun's light no longer "overpowers" it) will *also* be seen in the west - and will set quite soon after the sun. The thin lunar waning crescent will rise in the east just before sunrise, then to be "overpowered" by the sun's brilliance for the rest of the day.


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## Alcuin

Olorgando said:


> If JRRT actually wrote this, then Durin's Day is an astronomical impossibility.
> With a setting sun in the west, the only thing that can be rising in the east simultaneously is a (near) full moon.
> _(All of this is only properly viewable on the high seas with no land in sight; we have buildings and trees all round that obscure our true horizon up to quite a height.)_
> That is why a full lunar eclipse is only possible at full moon - as a full solar eclipse only at new moon.
> The thin lunar waxing crescent appearing in the sky (actually _*becoming visible*_ when the sun's light no longer "overpowers" it) will *also* be seen in the west - and will set quite soon after the sun. The thin lunar waning crescent will rise in the east just before sunrise, then to be "overpowered" by the sun's brilliance for the rest of the day.


You are absolutely correct, Olorgando, and I am in error! I have a deadline tonight and cannot write more now: I will try to address my post later.

Thank you for finding and explaining my mistake.


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## acolyte-of-the-valar

Hello. Corais here. So I am pagan and do pull a lot of my beliefs from the writings of Tolkien, so this question is very interesting. If you want to actually celebrate it, some things that I have done/plan on doing in the year 2020 are:
1. create something crafty. This year I am going to be sewing myself a cloak. In past years I have made a beaded necklace, drawn artwork, and written poetry on Durin's day.
2. Sing and dance. A group called Clamavi De Profundis does an excellent expanded version of Gimli's Lament for Durin. You can find it here: 



 I also chant other songs or lines from the movie, as well as dance and play makeshift drums.
3. Barbecue. I light a barbecue and cook some meat and roast veggies. Going out to eat would be something else you could do.
4. Appreciate my home, family, job, and other wonderful things I have. 
5. Commit to get better at something or to begin learning something.


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## lotrfox

Hello all! I am ashamed that it's been so long since I've logged on, but I'm so happy so many people have found this interesting and responded! I continue to celebrate Durin's Day with a marathon of The Hobbit trilogy, and of course lots of food. I love the idea of going to a cave, mine, or some sort of museum. I think that with the ever-growing importance of climate change, putting an emphasis on the world around us is a fantastic idea, especially learning about something new to me. (Perhaps I could incorporate that into Hobbit Day as well, since "all hobbits share a love of things that grow".) A barbecue is another fantastic idea! Somehow I had forgotten that dwarves loved to sing and dance (silly me). 
I love all the feedback and everyone's thoughts on the matter!  
And I hope everyone's gearing up for another exciting Durin's Day! Finding joy in the smallest of things has become so precious this year. I'm thankful for you all.


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