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Dwarvish New Year: Oct. 1, 2016 (C.E.)

Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Sep 27 2016, 1:40pm

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Dwarvish New Year: Oct. 1, 2016 (C.E.) Can't Post


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"The first day of the dwarves' New Year is as all should know the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin's Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together." - Thorin Oakenshield


My understanding is that a rare Black Moon occurs on September 30, 2016, when a a second New Moon falls within the same month. If we count Midyear's Day as our June 22 then winter, as reckoned by the dwarves, should begin on our October 22, making October 1 the dwarves' New Year in our Gregorian calendar. My personal reckoning would put the New Year at October 21 as I consider June 21 to better represent the Midyear's Day of Shire Reckoning.

Now, is October 1 also a Durin's Day? I'm not sure, but I don't think so.

- Sunrise: 7:13 AM; Sunset: 6:56 PM
- Moonrise: 7:41 AM; Moonset: 7:31 PM

If the moon is not in the sky at sunset then is it Durin's Day?

I had this date figured a little differently at one point, but I was using a lunar phase calendar that seemed to place the new moon on October 1 instead of September 30.

"He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows." -- Favorite proverb of the wizard Ningauble of the Seven Eyes

(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Sep 27 2016, 1:53pm)


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Sep 27 2016, 2:20pm

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Happy Durin's Day! [In reply to] Can't Post

I made a dumb mistake! The moon sets 35 minutes after the sun does on October 1. Of course it is a Durin's Day!

"He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows." -- Favorite proverb of the wizard Ningauble of the Seven Eyes


Ingwion
Lorien

Sep 28 2016, 9:48am

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Wonderful! Well done on working this out Smile When I try to do something like this I get it terribly wrong...


It was a foggy day in London, and the fog was heavy and dark. Animate London, with smarting eyes and irritated lungs, was blinking, wheezing, and choking; inanimate London was a sooty spectre, divided in purpose between being visible and invisible, and so being wholly neither. - Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens.

It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen. - The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Sep 28 2016, 2:12pm

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Winter and the New Year [In reply to] Can't Post

Honestly, the toughest part was determining what the Dwarves of Erebor likely considered to be the start of Winter. When the Hobbits still dwelt in Rhovanion, they used the reckoning of the Men of the North. The end of the old year coincided with the end of Fall on the last day of the month of Winterfilth (our October). The new year began on the first day of Blotmath (November).

It seems likely to me that Durin's Folk reckoned the seasons in the same way, though they adopted a lunar-based calendar for their reckoning of years. beginning their new year on the first day of the last moon of Autumn. In other words: the Dwarves' New Year began on the first day of the last waxing moon in October.

The complication is that the Shire calendar is in advance of our own by about ten days. Their first day of Blotmath (November) falls on our October 21 (or 22, there is a margin of error). So the Dwarves' New Year could fall anywhere between our September 21 to October 21, depending on the occurrence of the last moon of Autumn and how we calculate the conversion And we are still relying on an educated guess for how the Dwarves reckoned the start of Winter. However, it seems unlikely that Winter started any earlier that that or much later. The Battle of Five Armies (in the book) must have taken place about three to four weeks after Durin's Day, with Bilbo, Gandalf and Beorn leaving several days after the battle to arrive at Beorn's home in time for Yuletide (before the Winter Solstice).

"He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows." -- Favorite proverb of the wizard Ningauble of the Seven Eyes

(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Sep 28 2016, 2:13pm)


Ingwion
Lorien

Sep 28 2016, 5:45pm

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Shire Calendar [In reply to] Can't Post

And I suppose it is further complicated by the fact each month in the SC had 30 days + Lithe & Yule, although I seem to remember that around October it made little difference because our calendar by that point had evened out...


It was a foggy day in London, and the fog was heavy and dark. Animate London, with smarting eyes and irritated lungs, was blinking, wheezing, and choking; inanimate London was a sooty spectre, divided in purpose between being visible and invisible, and so being wholly neither. - Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens.

It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen. - The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Sep 28 2016, 7:37pm

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Yes... [In reply to] Can't Post


In Reply To
And I suppose it is further complicated by the fact each month in the SC had 30 days + Lithe & Yule, although I seem to remember that around October it made little difference because our calendar by that point had evened out...


That's what I found, but I was also equating our June 21 with Midyear's Day (as to me that date seems to best represent the Summer Solstice) where others have chosen to use the date of June 22. My conversion has 1 Blotmath fall on our October 21 rather than on October 22 as do other calculations. I also have the Hobbits Yule-days falling on December 20 and 21 on the Gregorian calendar and our own New Year coinciding with 11 Afteryule in Shire Reckoning. Oddly, nether conversion agrees with the estimate of JRRT that has the Hobbits' New Year fall on our January 9. Even Tolkien himself, indicated that this should only be taken as a rough estimate:


Quote
It appears...that Mid-year's Day was intended to correspond as nearly as possible to the summer solstice. In that case the Shire dates were actually in advance of ours by some ten days, and our New Year's Day corresponded more or less to the Shire January 9. - JRR Tolkien, LotR, Appendix D


I think that two days difference might fall within a reasonable margin of error.

I actually only just discovered this site which uses the same assumptions as myself: http://shire-reckoning.com/calendar.html.

This one, at Tolkien Gateway, better represents what I've been seeing elsewhere: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Shire_Calendar.

"He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows." -- Favorite proverb of the wizard Ningauble of the Seven Eyes

(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Sep 28 2016, 7:51pm)


Ingwion
Lorien

Sep 28 2016, 7:46pm

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Cool [In reply to] Can't Post

Well done on working this out Smile


It was a foggy day in London, and the fog was heavy and dark. Animate London, with smarting eyes and irritated lungs, was blinking, wheezing, and choking; inanimate London was a sooty spectre, divided in purpose between being visible and invisible, and so being wholly neither. - Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens.

It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen. - The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien


Otaku-sempai
Immortal


Oct 1 2016, 12:56pm

Post #8 of 8 (1451 views)
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Ripe meat on the spit and malt beer all 'round! [In reply to] Can't Post

Durin's Day is upon us! Celebrate the New Year of the Dwarves in the manner of Durin's Folk.

"He who lies artistically, treads closer to the truth than ever he knows." -- Favorite proverb of the wizard Ningauble of the Seven Eyes

 
 

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