[mark12_30]

Okay, we're into February.

This may sound extremely bizarre to some of you, but last winter I read that Tolkien specifically dated the Ring quest to go from Christmas (Dec 25 the fellowship leaves Rivendell) to Easter (March 25, Ring finally ends up in the Cracks of Doom.) I know there are calendar issues, but I'm not a Shire-calendar major, nor an elvish calendar expert, so I tend to cheat and just pretend it's all the same (Tolkien put it all into english calendar for us, so I feel somewhat justified in doing so; so shoot me.)

Now, I'm an evangelical, but this is another aspect of Tolkien's catholicism that intrigues me greatly, and the obvious parallel between Frodo's final journey and the catholic season of Lent, which is oriented towards Wandering in the Wilderness: can be compared to Jesus' 40 day fast, or Moses' (or even the Israelites' 40 years wandering in the desert; bit of a stretch, but the analogy is permissable to many, especially considering the parallels between Maundy Thursday and Passover, although that's kind of backwards too since the Isrealites had Passover first and then wandered afterwards... where was I?)

Anyway-- since I made that association between the destruction of the Ring and Easter, late winter has become a significant time for me regarding letting things go. I relate it to the Ring quest, quite a bit; what are the things that I should be letting Iluvatar have, instead of holding onto them?

Sometimes I finally arrive at the mountain, claim the thing for my own, and find that somebody bites it out of my posession, and so learn that being bitten is not always such a bad thing, so to speak. Especially if there's a Sam nearby to drag one to safety.

The church-calendar Lent starts on Ash Wednesday which changes depending on when Easter falls-- Ash Wednesday falls on March 5 this year. But relating it to the Ring-quest instead-- just for kicks-- counting backwards from March 25 (which this year happens to be a Tuesday), forty days, then a ring-quest-oriented "lent" would start on Friday Feb 14 or so.

Interesting that the company of the Ring set out from Lorien on 16th Feb.

So... 14th, or perhaps the 16th Feb to March 25... I wonder whether I'll do anything to "celebrate" that. ('Celebrating' lent... who came up with that phrase?) Connecting the Mythos this way seems very appropriate to me. Anyway, I wondered whether anybody else was intrigued by the parallels, or perhaps celebrated/ observed them, or connected them somehow with their other observances.

From the Encyclopedia of Arda:

16 February The Company of the Ring depart from Lórien.
25 February Death of Théodred at the First Battle of the Fords of Isen.
26 February Boromir is slain by Orcs; the Fellowship of the Ring is broken.
29 February Uglúk's Orc-band is destroyed by the Rohirrim. Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest.
2 March The Second Battle of the Fords of Isen.
3 March Destruction of Isengard by the Ents.
10 March An army out of the Morannon captures Cair Andros and invades Anórien.
13 March Aragorn captures the fleet of the Corsairs at Pelargir.
14 March A dispute breaks out in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, leading to open battle between the Orcs in the Tower.
15 March Death of King Théoden in the Battle of the Pelennor. He is succeeded by his nephew Éomer.
15 March The Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
15 March The pyre of Denethor.
...
25 March Destruction of the One Ring and final downfall of Sauron and his Nazgûl.

[ February 05, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]