Season's Greetings

The last weeks of the year are upon us once again. Whether in the cold and dark of the northern hemisphere, the heat of summer in the south, or anywhere in between, this is a time of holidays and celebrations. And like our primary world, Middle-earth knows a series of holidays--not just at the end of the year, but all year round. In many cases, we don't have more than a name and a vague idea when these holidays are likely to happen. In other cases, bad things happen on the holidays--such as the Darkening of Valinor or the Fall of Gondolin. Only rarely do we get a little more information about how the holidays are actually celebrated.

This is where you come in! For this festive season, we invite you to create a fanwork in which one (or several) of the holidays of Middle-earth plays a role. Use it as the occasion that kickstarts your plot, let your characters prepare for a celebration never properly described in the books, write meta about the holiday/s of your choice, create postcards that the characters might be sending to their loved ones ... or whatever else tickles your fancy! It can be dramatic and heartbreaking like the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, rousing like the Mereth Aderthad, whimsical and sweet like the Nost-na-Lothion, or anything in between.

We have compiled a list of holidays that are mentioned in the Legendarium, sorted by the peoples who celebrate them, with a short explanation. Can't find a holiday that inspires you, or see that your preferred Middle-earth culture is underrepresented? No problem! We're also providing you with a short list of suggestions for creating your own holiday, and you're welcome to come up with additional ideas. As long as there’s a holiday somehow celebrated by characters from (or inspired by) the Legendarium, it's fair game!

This challenge opened in November 2019 .

Prompts

Choose your prompt from the collection below.

View Prompts

Elvish Holidays

Yestarë - New Year’s day in Imladris; in late March/early April
“The loa began with yestarë [“New Year’s Day”], the day immediately before tuilë [spring], and ended with mettarë [“End-day”], the day immediately after coirë [“stirring”, i.e. pre-spring].” (LotR, Appendix D - The Calendars)

Sovallë - “Purification”
A mysterious ritual or holiday recorded in the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (QL 86 and PME 86). Probably connected to the Qenya name for February, Sovalwaris, and the Gnomish word sovriel “purification (religious)” (GL 68). It may have been inspired by the Catholic rite of Shrovetide, which tends to happen in February (rarely late January or early March). In this case, it might involve costumed merry-making followed by a period of fasting, reflection and repentance.

Nost-na-Lothion - “Birth of Flowers”, a spring festival of Gondolin
“In these ways that bitter winter passed, and the snows lay deeper than ever before on the Encircling Hills; yet in its time a spring of wondrous glory melted the skirts of those white mantles and the valley drank the waters and burst into flowers. So came and passed with revelry of children the festival of Nost-na-Lothion or the Birth of Flowers, and the hearts of the Gondothlim were uplifted for the good promise of the year.” (BoLT 2, The Fall of Gondolin)

Tarnin Austa - “Gates of Summer”, a Midsummer festival of Gondolin
“For know that on a night it was their custom to begin a solemn ceremony at midnight, continuing it even till the dawn of Tarnin Austa broke, and no voice was uttered in the city from midnight till the break of day, but the dawn they hailed with ancient songs. For years uncounted had the coming of summer thus been greeted with music of choirs, standing upon their gleaming eastern wall; and now comes even the night of vigil and the city is filled with silver lamps, while in the groves upon the new-leaved trees lights of silver colours swing, and low musics go along the ways, but no voice sings until the dawn.” (BoLT 2, The Fall of Gondolin)

Enderi - the “Mid-Year” days of the calendar of Imladris, around harvest time; in a leap year, they include the leap days.

Unnamed Valinórian harvest festival
“Therefore Yavanna set times for the flowering and the ripening of all things that grew in Valinor; and at each first gathering of fruits Manwë made a high feast for the praising of Eru, when all the peoples of Valinor poured forth their joy in music and song upon Taniquetil.” (The Silmarillion, Of the Darkening of Valinor)

Turuhalmë - a winter festival of Tol Eressëa; called Durufui in Gnomish
“Turuhalmë - the ‘Logdrawing’, bringing in of wood to Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva.” (BoLT 2, Index)
It is likely that the Yule log of Germanic Christian tradition served as inspiration. A Quenya name for the winter solstice is Amanar, “Yule and the beginning of the Sun’s resturn” (Letter to Jonathan Hepworth).

Mettarë - New Year’s eve in Imladris; in late March/early April (see Yestarë).

Irregular holidays:

Samírien - a commemorative festival held all 21 years, with lesser festivals held every 3 and 7 years respectively
“For know that they made merry on one day every seventh year to celebrate the coming of the Eldar into Valinor, and every third year a lesser feast to commemorate the coming of the white fleet of the Solosimpi to the shores of Eldamar; but at every twenty-first year when both these feasts fell together they held one of the greatest magnificence, and it endured for seven days, and for this cause such years were called “Years of Double Mirth”; and these feasts all the Koreldar wherever they now may be in the wide world still do celebrate. [...] Pomps there were and long processions of the Elves, dancing and singing, that wound from Kôr to Valmar’s gates.” (BoLT 1, The Theft of Melko)

Mereth Aderthad - “Feast of Reuniting”
“When twenty years of the Sun had passed, Fingolfin King of the Noldor made a great feast; and it was held in the spring near to the pools of Ivrin [...] The joy of that feast was long remembered in later days of sorrow; and it was called Mereth Aderthad, the Feast of Reuniting.” (The Silmarillion, Of the Return of the Noldor)

Mannish Holidays

Yestarë - New Year’s day in Númenor, Gondor and Arnor until the late 3rd Age; around Midwinter
“The Númenóreans altered these arrangements. They devided the loa into shorter periods of more regular length; and they adhered to the custom of beginning the year in mid-winter, which had been used by Men of the North-west from whom they were derived in the First Age.
[...] These 5 days outside the months, yestarë, tuilérë, loëndë, yáviérë, and mettarë, were holidays.” (LotR, Appendix D - The Calendars)

Tuilérë - “Spring Day”, the vernal equinox in Gondor and Arnor; after the War of the Ring, the holiday was moved to March 25 and became the 1st day of the year
(see Yestarë)

Erukyermë - “Prayer to Eru” at the beginning of spring in Númenor
“Thrice only in each year the King spoke [upon Meneltarma], offering prayer for the coming year at Erukyermë in the first days of spring, praise of Eru Ilúvatar at the Erulaitalë in midsummer, and thanksgiving to him at the Eruhantalë at the end of autumn. At these times the King ascended the mountain on foot followed by a great concourse of the people, clad in white and garlanded, but silent.” (Unfinished Tales, A Description of the Island of Númenor)

Loëndë - “Middle of the Year”, midsummer in Númenor, Gondor and Arnor. In leap years, there are two middle days called Enderi.
(see Yestarë)

Erulaitalë - “Praise of Eru”, a celebration in Númenor around the summer solstice
(see Erukyermë)

Yávíerë - “Harvest Day”, the autumnal equinox in Gondor and Arnor
(see Yestarë)

Cormarë - “Ring Day”, introduced in Gondor and Arnor by Aragorn, on Frodo’s birthday (4th Age)
“But in honour of Frodo Yavannië 30, which corresponded with former September 22, his birthday, was made a festival.” (LotR, Appendix D: The Calendars)

Eruhantalë - “Thanksgiving to Eru”, an autumn festival in Númenor
(see Erukyermë)

Mettarë - New Year’s eve in Númenor, Gondor and Arnor; around Midwinter
(see Yestarë)

Rohan also celebrates New Year’s day in winter, probably similar to the Hobbits’ Yule.

Dwarvish Holidays

New Year’s Day - first day of the last lunar month in autumn
“‘The first day of the dwarves’ New Year,’ said Thorin, ‘is as all should know the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter.’” (The Hobbit, A Short Rest)

Dúrin’s Day - when the sun and moon are both visible in the sky on New Year’s day
“‘We still call it Durin’s Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together.’” (The Hobbit, A Short Rest)

Hobbit Holidays

Yuletide - six days of feasting between years
“The last day of the year and the first of the next year were called the Yuledays. [...] In full Yuletide was six days long, including the last three and the first three days of each year.” (LotR, Appendix D: The Calendars)

Sam’s birthday on April 6 (4th Age)
“There is no record of the Shire-folk commemorating either March 25 or September 22; but in the Westfarthing, especially in the country round Hobbiton Hill, there grew up a custom of making holiday and dancing in the Party Field, when weather permitted, on April 6. Some said that it was old Sam Gardner’s birthday, some said that it was the day on which the Golden Tree first flowered in 1420, and some that it was the Elves’ New Year.” (LotR, Appendix D: The Calendars)

The Lithe - three (four in leap years) days of partying in Midsummer, including a fair and the election of the Mayor of Michel Delving
“They had 3 Summerdays, called in the Shire the Lithe or the Lithedays, between June and July. [...] Every fourth year, except in the last year of the century, there were four Lithedays. The Lithedays and the Yuledays were the chief holidays and time of feasting. The additional Litheday was added after Mid-Year’ Day, and so the 184th day of the Leap-years was called Overlithe and was a day of special merrymaking.” (LotR, Appendix D: The Calendars)

Anniversary of the Battle of Bywater - November 2nd (4th Age)
“In the Buckland the Horn of the Mark was blown at sundown every November 2 and bonfires and feastings followed.” (LotR, Appendix D: The Calendars)

General “holiday” ideas

Personal

• begetting / birth days
• coming of age and other transitional ceremonies
• graduation
• weddings
• birth of a child
• initiation/ inauguration
• funerals
• other days of personal significance, e.g. survival of an accident

Cultural

• solstice and equinox days
• agricultural festivals
• festivals of death/ancestors
• “silent holidays” - days of mourning, repentance or reflection
• anniversaries of important events
• celebrations of cultural staples (the sea, ships, mountains, horses…)
• celebrations of patron deities, heroes, founders or rulers
• celebrations of specific sub-groups (elders, mothers, warriors, servants, …)
• trade or fun fairs