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Thanks for the answers so far!
Ninja, I'm not actually attempting to interpret this particular work of Tolkien's as being religious - it's just that the saints' name days, used here to mark time instead of months and dates, are Catholic in origin. Since I now live in a region that is traditionally Catholic, I have grown familiar with this concept. Some saints' days are called by the saint's name in normal secular usage here in Germany, and everyone knows which date is meant.
Child, as always, I look forward to reading your thoughts on this topic!
Lal, you're right, of course, as to the reason for the use of the saints' days as the calendarium of the Middle Ages - a logical result of the medieval time frame chosen for this story. I find your insights on the folk tale backgrounds of elements in the story fascinating!
Thanks, Beleg, for that additional bit of information on January 14 as New Year's Day.
My thoughts were not so much on the reason for using Catholic elements in the story, since I'm enough aware of church history to know how important the only Christian church's influence was at that time. I'm more interested in finding connections between the dates/name days and the events Tolkien has placed there - why, for example, are both of Giles' encounters with the dragon set on days associated with light?
And I would like to hear if anyone has more information on "St. Hilarius" and "St. Felix" - Formendacil, are you reading this? Do you know anything that can enlighten us, or are these parodic saints' names?
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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