Shire calendar
The Shire counts the year in twelve months of thirty days, with the Yule and Lithe days set between them. Here you can convert a date — and see which days of the year the tales mark.
Convert a date
Days of the year
These dates follow the Tale of Years (Appendix B) — the days by which the tales themselves record events, and by which readers keep them.
January
- 15. January
- Gandalf falls into shadow with the Balrog in the deeps of Moria at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm.
- 25. January
- Gandalf casts down the Balrog on the peak of Zirak-zigil and passes away.
February
- 14. February
- Frodo and Sam look into the Mirror of Galadriel in Lothlórien.
- 26. February
- The Fellowship is broken at Parth Galen; Boromir falls defending the hobbits.
March
- 3. March
- The Battle of the Hornburg is won at Helm's Deep, and the Ents overthrow Isengard.
- 8. March
- Aragorn takes the Paths of the Dead at daybreak, summoning the Oathbreakers.
- 13. March
- Frodo is taken by the orcs of Cirith Ungol; Pippin looks into the palantír of Orthanc.
- 14. March
- Sam rescues Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
- 15. March
- The Battle of the Pelennor Fields: the Witch-king and King Théoden fall before Minas Tirith.
- 25. March
- The One Ring is destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom; the Dark Tower falls and Sauron passes forever.
May
- 1. May
- Aragorn is crowned King Elessar in Minas Tirith, and the Third Age draws to its close.
September
- 22. September
- Birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins — kept together at Bag End.
- 29. September
- Frodo, Bilbo and the Keepers of the Rings sail from the Grey Havens into the West.
October
- 6. October
- Frodo is wounded by the Morgul-knife of the Witch-king upon Weathertop.
- 20. October
- The Ring-bearer escapes the Black Riders at the Ford of Bruinen below Rivendell.
- 25. October
- The Council of Elrond is held in Rivendell, and the quest of the Ring is resolved upon.
November
- 3. November
- The Battle of Bywater — the last battle of the War of the Ring, fought in the Shire itself.
December
- 25. December
- The Fellowship of the Ring sets out from Rivendell on the quest to unmake the Ring.
The twelve months
- Afteryule
- Solmath
- Rethe
- Astron
- Thrimidge
- Forelithe
- Afterlithe
- Wedmath
- Halimath
- Winterfilth
- Blotmath
- Foreyule
Ten of the twelve names are unchanged in German: Tolkien's Shire months are modernised Old English, and the German translation keeps them.