The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post

mark12_30 · 01-07-2003, 11:11 AM

Leaving Bag-End... interesting; that feels like an Autumnal thing to me, or April; but January feels like leaving Lorien. We often have January thaw here in RI.

And Lent is coming. Now, for an evangelical/ borderline pentecostal like me, that's a VERY odd statement ("heresy, anyone?"; I can hear my pastor wailing in despair) Despite pastor's anguish, Tolkien has brought me meandering back across the Liturgical border, and Lent confronts me. To me Lent is like the final stage of a ring-quest, and somehow that's how I think Tolkien intended it, calendar-wise. They leave Rivendell Dec. 25, and the Ring is destroyed March 25... Christmas to Easter?

I find myself wondering what burden or curse disguised as a "treasure" I must lose, when I leave Lothlorien (on Ash Wednesday?) and let a river sweep me southward towards "the one place I don't want to get any closer to."

And another part of me persistantly keeps reviewing Bag End, with the fire lit and the teakettle just beginning to sing.

An odd thought: Boating all day on a river in January? They must have frozen.

01-07-2003, 11:11 AM	#3
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,367	Leaving Bag-End... interesting; that feels like an Autumnal thing to me, or April; but January feels like leaving Lorien. We often have January thaw here in RI. And Lent is coming. Now, for an evangelical/ borderline pentecostal like me, that's a VERY odd statement ("heresy, anyone?"; I can hear my pastor wailing in despair) Despite pastor's anguish, Tolkien has brought me meandering back across the Liturgical border, and Lent confronts me. To me Lent is like the final stage of a ring-quest, and somehow that's how I think Tolkien intended it, calendar-wise. They leave Rivendell Dec. 25, and the Ring is destroyed March 25... Christmas to Easter? I find myself wondering what burden or curse disguised as a "treasure" I must lose, when I leave Lothlorien (on Ash Wednesday?) and let a river sweep me southward towards "the one place I don't want to get any closer to." And another part of me persistantly keeps reviewing Bag End, with the fire lit and the teakettle just beginning to sing. An odd thought: Boating all day on a river in January? They must have frozen. __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.