Shire-calendar

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Shire-calendar from Appendix D to The Lord of the Rings

The Shire-calendar was the calendar kept by the hobbits of the Shire, very close to the Kings' Reckoning. The journey of the Fellowship of the Ring started in 1418 by Shire-reckoning, which is how years are counted in the Shire-calendar.

Each of its twelve months had 30 days, with five extra days, which were their chief festivals. It was different from that used by Men, Dwarves and Elves. In the Shire, Year 1 corresponded to TA 1601 when colonization of the Shire began by the Bree-hobbits Marcho and Blanco, two brothers of the Fallohidish stock. Thus, years of the Third Age can be converted to Shire-reckoning by subtracting 1600.

The last year of the Third Age was 1421. In the New Reckoning of King Elessar, the year FO 1 began on March 25, old style, though the hobbits ignored this change and so for them the first year of the Fourth Age was just 1422 in the Shire Calendar.

Months and extra days

The Shire-calendar's year was divided into 12 months of 30 days. Five extra days were added to create a 365-day year, and sixth extra day was added when leap years occurred every four years. The months followed the lunar cycle.

№	Month	Meaning	Length	Translation in The Lord of the Rings	Modern equivalent
	2 Yule		1 day		22 December
1	Afteryule	"After midwinter"	30 days	January	23 December to 21 January
2	Solmath	"Mud-month"	30 days	February	22 January to 20 February
3	Rethe	"Rough month"	30 days	March	21 February to 22 March
4	Astron	"Easter-month"	30 days	April	23 March to 21 April
5	Thrimidge	"Three milkings"	30 days	May	22 April to 21 May
6	Forelithe	"Before midsummer"	30 days	June	22 May to 20 June
	1 Lithe		1 day		21 June
	Mid-year's Day		1 day		22 June
	2 Lithe		1 day		23 June
	Overlithe		1 day		Leap years only
7	Afterlithe	"After midsummer"	30 days	July	24 June to 23 July
8	Wedmath	"Weed-month"	30 days	August	24 July to 22 August
9	Halimath	"Holy month"	30 days	September	23 August to 21 September
10	Winterfilth	"Winter filling"	30 days	October	22 September to 21 October
11	Blotmath	"Blood-month"	30 days	November	22 October to 20 November
12	Foreyule	"Before midwinter"	30 days	December	21 November to 20 December
	1 Yule		1 day		21 December

The Yuledays were the days that mark the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one, so 2 Yule was the first day of the year. The Lithedays are the three days in the middle of the year, 1 Lithe, Mid-year's Day, and 2 Lithe. In leap years (every fourth year except centennial years) a day was added after Mid-year's Day called Overlithe. All these days were placed outside of any month. These days were primarily holidays and feast days. Mid-year's Day is meant to correspond to the summer solstice, which Tolkien describes as being 10 days earlier than the middle day of our year. However, since then the summer solstice has shifted slightly so it falls on a different date now, rendering the difference between Mid-year's Day and the middle day of our year eleven days, instead of ten.

Days of the week

There were seven days in the Shire week. The first day of the week was called Sterday and the last day of the week was called Highday. The Mid-year's Day and, when present, Overlithe had no weekday assignments. This arrangement was used because it caused every day to have the same weekday designation from year to year (instead of changing as in the Gregorian calendar).

Day Name	Meaning	Modern equivalent
Sterday	Stars of Varda	Saturday
Sunday	Sun	Sunday
Monday	Moon	Monday
Trewsday	Two Trees of Valinor	Tuesday
Hevensday	Heavens	Wednesday
Mersday	Sea	Thursday
Highday	Valar	Friday

Highday was a holiday with evening feasts.

In The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the names of months and days are given in modern equivalents. For instance, Afteryule is called January and Sterday is called Saturday.