Durin's Day was a yearly event noted by the Dwarves, "when the last moon of Autumn and the first sun of Winter appear in the sky together" (i.e. until sunset) on the first day of the Dwarves' New Year, which was "the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter."[1]
Since each lunar cycle takes about 29.5 days and autumn (by the American definition of winter) in the northern hemisphere runs until about December 21, the first day of the last new moon of autumn could take place any time between about November 22 and December 21. However, as seen in The History of The Hobbit, Tolkien set October 19 as Durin's Day, placing the start of winter for the Dwarves of Erebor at the beginning of November.
In The Hobbit, the writing on the map that Gandalf had received from Thráin II, as read by Elrond, instructed, "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole" (of the secret side-door into the Lonely Mountain).[1] When arriving at the Mountain weeks later, Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins, and the Dwarves at first misunderstood the meaning of "the last light", finding no key-hole in the daylight, even at sunset, until in the last hours of Durin's Day the moon's light revealed it. The group unlocked the door and entered the Mountain.[2]
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Arabic | يوم دورين |
| Azerbaijani | Durinın Gün |
| Basque | Durinen eguna |
| Catalan | Dia de Durin |
| Danish | Durins Dag |
| Dutch | Durins Dag |
| Faroese | Durins dagur |
| Finnish | Durinin päivä |
| French | Le Jour de Durin |
| Frisian | Dei fan Dúrin (Western) |
| Galician | Día de Durin |
| Georgian | დურინის დღე |
| German | Durinstag |
| Greek | Ημέρα του Ντουρίν |
| Hebrew | יום דורין |
| Hmong | Hnub ntawm Durin |
| Icelandic | Durins Dagur |
| Irish Gaelic | Lá Durin |
| Italian | Giorno di Durin |
| Luxumbourgish | Dag vun Durin |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Денот на Дурин |
| Norwegian | Durins dag |
| Polish | Dzień Durina |
| Portuguese | Dia de Durin |
| Romanian | Ziua lui Durin |
| Russian | День Дурина |
| Sinhalese | ඩුරින්ගේ දවස |
| Slovak | Durinov deň |
| Spanish | Dia de Durin |
| Swedish | Durins dag |
| Turkish | Durin'un Günü |
| Welsh | Dydd Durin |
| Yiddish | יוֹם דּוֹרִין |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Hobbit, Chapter III: "A Short Rest"
- ↑ The Hobbit, Chapter XI: "On the Doorstep"