This week it's OK to feel grey, a good time to go on an unexpected journey, and at the very least the perfect excuse to have a hearty dose of second breakfast. This is Tolkien Week and Saturday is Hobbit Day. Probably.
Tolkien Week encompasses the 75th anniversary of the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (September 21) and worldwide Hobbit Day (September 22), which is the shared birthday of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins.
In addition, Peter Jackson and his team have joined in to celebrate / take advantage of the occasion for a bit of additional publicity, as Warner Bros. have today released the new trailer for the first Hobbit film.
We may have just bid a relieved farewell to The Shire, but the big screen is about to embrace the - significantly more popular - Shire-folk in the first of Peter Jackson's new Middle Earth trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
The American Tolkien Society first proclaimed Hobbit Day and Tolkien Week in 1978, though Hobbit Day celebrations existed prior to its official recognition.
Tolkien fans the world over celebrate by having parties and feasts emulating Hobbit celebrations as described in the books.
On Friday, September 21, celebrations will occur related to the 75th anniversary of the book's publication, which occurred on that same day in 1937. Some of those activities will involve heated debates between Tolkien enthusiasts as to whether Saturday should in fact be Hobbit Day.
Hobbit Day marks the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, the Hobbits who are the unlikely heroes of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, respectively. Bilbo and Frodo were both said to be born on the same day of different years, Bilbo in the year 2890 and Frodo in the year of 2968 in the Third Age (1290 and 1368, respectively, in Shire-reckoning, the Hobbits’ own calendar). Yet due to the unsurprising discrepencies between the Shire calendar and the Gregorian Calendar, there are debates between fans as to whether this date should in fact be the 12th or even the 14th September, revolving largely around the timing of the solstice.
Nonetheless, this Saturday fans around the world are expected to recognise Hobbit Day with Hobbit Day parties and celebrations, presumably occurring for the most part in homes located under hills.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is released in Australian cinemas on Boxing Day.
