Were there holidays in Middle-earth?

[Gimli Son Of Gloin]

I was thinking(which I rarely do during the summer). In The Shire, and all of Middle Earth for that matter, there was no God. So there were no religious holidays like Christmas and Easter. Did they have <Em>any</em> holidays of the sort?

[ July 21, 2002: Message edited by: Gimli Son Of Gloin ]

[ July 22, 2002: Message edited by: The Barrow-Wight ]

[NazgulNumberTen]

no god? (cough)eru(cough)
what about mid-years day?

[*Varda*]

Didn't the elves consider Eru their god? Although there seemed to be no mention of religious affairs in the Shire.

I wouldn't worry - I'm sure the Hobbits, being so fond of parties, drinking, eating, and smoking would arrange several holidays for themselves.

[Elrian]

There was Yule also.

[Lady_Galadriel]

This is a stupid question, but when is mid years day?
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[Elrian]

July 2nd

[Birdland]

I always assumed that "Mid-Year Day" and "Yule" were the equivalent of the earth's Summer and Winter Solstices. The Elves celebrated it, also. These two events have been celebrated by most cultures throughout time. It's the reason why the Christian religion chose these solar events for our own Christmas and Easter holidays.

As for other times of celebration, I imagine that the Shire and other kingdoms had their "patriotic" holidays; like celebrating the founding of the Shire, or the defeat of the Orcs that attacked Buckland, things like that. And being a mostly agricultural society, they probably had something like Harvest Home or Oktoberfest.

Maybe they celebrated the Bullroarer's Birthday, and made it a three-day weekend.

And of course, The Scouring of the Shire will be long remembered and an occasion for parades and festivities.

[ July 21, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]

[burrahobbit]

The Numenoreans had Holy Crap Eru Is Great Day. I'm not feeling too hot right now, so I'm not going to look up how to spell it. It's in UT.

[Lady_Galadriel]

July 2nd

oh no.. then weve just missed it.. okay by like a month....

[Aldagrim Proudfoot]

The months June and July are name Lithe and AfterLithe on the Hobbit calender, so I guess Lithe is Midyears day. Didn't they take days out of the calender for the end of the year holiday?

Plus there are different feasts mentioned on the Sil.

[Dimaldaeon]

Didn't some people worship the Valar. But can you imagine a world without religious holidays.
No St. Patricks day (Ye Yanks wouldn't have an excuse to get drunk and make fun of us)
No Easter (Beorns chocolate industry would go bankrupt)
No Christmas (The very though of this makes me shudder)