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Hobbits and Christmas
by Stephen
by Stephen
"With Christmas soon here (and remarkably - The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey too), I had a spent a few moments thinking about what
Christmas is like for those hobbits of Middle-earth…
Despite the best efforts of most supermarkets, toy shops,
and so on, Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus – not the giving and
receiving of gifts (although the giving and receiving of gifts is a splendid
benefit that comes with Christmas). This is a tricky situation, as I’m pretty
sure that Middle-earth has no churches and had no Jesus (although Sir Ian
McKellen does come close – or perhaps not – as it is well known that Sir Ian is
an atheist) – so this destroys any idea of Christmas in Middle-earth.
So, with the exception of the lack of a divine, virgin birth
– what would Christmas be like for the Halflings of The Shire?
The first question would be when would Christmas be? On
earth, we celebrate Christmas towards the end of December as everyone knows. Luckily
for us, the first and last days of each year in The Shire were Yule days, when
great celebrating and partying would occur. The first day of Yule would always
be Highday (Friday), with the second as Sterday or Saturday. Similarly to the Christmas
period, the whole period of Yule would last six days.
As per our Christmas celebrations, there would be lots of
good grub – and those hobbits do enjoy their food! Second breakfasts are the
norm, along with elevenses, and early lunch and so on. You can imagine those
little furry feet tapping with excitement at the thought of munching on Beorn’s
honey cake and lembas bread, washed down with copious amounts Barliman’s Best
(yes – it comes in pints) and then to liven things up, perhaps a glug or two of
Ent-Draught (which might lead to some hobbits waking up taller than they were
the day before).
It’s well known that hobbits love the giving and receiving
of gifts. Hobbits have the slightly strange tradition of the hobbit whose
birthday it is, giving gifts to others. I initially thought this was because
those friendly hobbits were such cheerful, giving creatures. Alas, I imagine
this is partly because a hobbit only gets one birthday per year, whereas
there’s most likely a birthday every day of the year for some hobbit or
another, which means that most hobbits should hopefully get more than one
present a week.
So, to wrap everything up… Hobbits love to party (as we know
with Bilbo’s Long Awaited Party). Those little fellows love to eat and drink
and are especially big fans of the old giving and receiving of presents and
gifts. You can just imagine the gathering together of the hobbits to celebrate
Yule… Young hobbits squabbling and causing mayhem. Older hobbits drinking ale,
smoking pipeweed and chatting away whilst munching on good solid grub, before
dozing off occasionally…
Tolkien alludes to this, when he talks about the hobbits,
“And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of
simple jests at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them).
They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave
away freely and eagerly accepted.”
Sounds like my kind of Christmas party… "
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