Calendar in Tolkien's mythology

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The calendars in Tolkien's mythology are very precise calculations by the English philologist and writer J. RR Tolkien , which can be compared with the calendars in the real world.

Origin of timing

The calculation of time in Tolkien's fictional universe begins with the creation of the world, which he describes in the Ainulindale as follows:

“Eru was there, the one who is called Ilúvatar in Arda; and first he created the Ainur, the saints, offspring of his thoughts; […] But when they had come into the void, Ilúvater said to them: “See, this is your song!” And he showed them a vision [vision] and gave them to see what they had only heard before; They saw a new world, and it arched itself in the void and was carried by the void, but it was not like you […] And suddenly the Ainur saw a light in the distance, like from a cloud with a flame in its heart; and they knew that this was not just a face, but that Ilúvatar had created a new one: Ea, the world that is. "

- JRR Tolkien : The Music of the Ainur. In: The Sillmarillion. P. 16.

In the time after the creation of the world there was initially no time division, only with the " Age of the Two Trees " a division of the times of day and thus the first daily rhythm arose due to their peculiarity of alternately shining in bright lights. The two trees Telperion (the silver one) and Laurelin (the golden one) shone under their own power alternately for about 12 hours each and illuminated the area of ​​Valinor, in which the Valar had settled. Within seven hours, each tree bloomed to its full glory and faded while the other began to glow. So twice a day there was a period of mild twilight when both trees were only faintly shining and their golden and silver rays mingled. A day in Valinor was divided into 12 Vali hours, five immersed in gold light, five in silver light and an hour each twice in twilight (minyúcale, minuial "first twilight / dawn" and atyúcale, aduial "second twilight / dusk").

Melkor destroyed these trees just as he had destroyed the Ormal and Iluin lights before. As a result, there was no more light in Middle-earth. However, the Valar managed to obtain one final fruit from each of the trees from which they created the sun and moon. The moon moved its orbits first from west to east and back again, it did this seven times before the sun was also set in the sky.

One of the consequences of these acts of Melkor was the return of the Noldor to Middle-earth and the veiling of Valinor . In the story "How the days and months and years were created" Tolkien reports that during this time in Valinor three men suddenly appeared with the Valar. They created long, invisible ropes in three time units, with the help of which the orbits of the moon and sun could be directed. They gave these ropes into Manwe's care and they were attached to a stone (the gonlath, i.e. rope stone). Since that time the world and all of its creatures, even the Valar, have been entwined with the bonds of time and subject to their laws.

“Then fear overcame the gods, who looked further ahead and knew that even they would from now on in a measured time be subject to gradual aging and their days would pass by until Illúvatar called them back at the Great End. But Fanuin said, 'No, it's just the music of the Ainur; for see who we are: Danuin, Ranuin and Fanuin, day, month and year, but only the children of Aluin, the time which is the eldest of the Ainur, who is in the hereafter and subject to Illúvatar; and from there we came, and that is where we are going now. ' Thereupon these three disappeared from Valinor; but it is from them that the unchangeable orbits of the sun and moon were created and all things of the world were subject to time and change. "

- JRR Tolkien : The Music of the Ainur. In: The Book of Lost Stories . Part 1.

The ages of Middle-earth

Middle-earth was divided into several ages by the Elves.

  • The first period they called "The Ages Before Days". These were made up of 35 ages, i.e. 3500 Valian years (≈ 33537 solar years). They range from the arrival of the Valar in Middle-earth to the first war against Melkor and the destruction of the two lights to the creation of the "Two Trees".
  • The following era is called the "Years of the Trees". A period of 1500 Valian years (≈ 14370 solar years). It is also called the time of the blessing in Valinor and includes the awakening of the elves and their journey to Valinor. It ends with the theft of the Silmaril by Melkor, the fratricide of Alqualonde and the exile or the exodus of the Noldor back to Middle-earth. Officially, the day Fingolfin reached Beleriand and the moon rose for the first time.
  • The "First Age of the Sun" lasted 590 solar years. This is the time that is particularly reported in the Silmarillion , the News from Middle-earth, and the story of the children of Húrin . It ends with the war of anger, the alliance between humans and elves, the fall of Gondolin, the banishment of Melkor from Arda and the sinking of Beleriand into the sea.
  • The "Second Age of the Sun" was 3441 solar years, began with the establishment of the human kingdom in Númenor and the gray temptations in Lindon. This story is told at length in the News from Middle-earth. It encompasses the fall of Númenor and ends with the battle of the “Last Covenant of Elves and Men” in which Isildur came into possession of the One Ring .
  • The “Third Age of the Sun” begins with Isildur's return to Gondor and ends after 3021 solar years with the destruction of the ring, the annihilation of Sauron and the departure of the Elves from Middle-earth.
  • The “Fourth Age of the Sun” begins after Aragorn's coronation (May 1, 3019) as king of the reunited Arnor and Gondor. There are only a few records left of this period. It is called "The Age of Rule of Men", "The New Age" or "The Days of the Younger".

Calendar Middle Earth

There is a uniform classification for the calendars in Tolkien's world :

Day week month season year
Quenya Sindarin Quenya Sindarin Quenya Sindarin Quenya Sindarin Quenya Sindarin
sana, sanaluin, ré, áre dana, danuin, or lemnar, enquië, ostola lefnar, ochlad rana, ranaliun, ráne ran, ranuin, ranoth ya, yasse iaur, ior fana, fanaluin, loa fann, fanuin, ŷr

However, there are differences in the number of weekly and monthly days that make up a solar year (Loa), which corresponds to an earth year. An exception is the Valinórian bill, which does not refer to solar years.

In general, a calendar year is composed as follows:

Month (Q.) Days meaning Gregorian calendar comment
Yaresse 01 New year's day, beginning of the year around March 29th or March 21st as the same day and night (yare = year, old fore time; esse = beginning)
Víresse 30th Beginning of growth, sprouting April Appearance of the first green (vírië = youth, freshness, growth, change)
Lótesse 30th Beginning of blossom May Appearance of the first flowers (lóte = blossom, flower)
Narië 30th Sunnier, more fiery June First warm month, summer solstice (nar, nárië = fire, flame, sun warmth)
Cermië 30th Harvest, mowing July First harvest month (berries and grain harvest; cermië = mowing, cutting harvest)
Úrime 30th Hotter, hotter August Warmest month (úrië = heat, burning)
Yavannië 30th Harvest time, fruit ripening September Time of the fruit harvest (yavanna = fruiting, fruit gift)
enderi 03 Middle days September 20th to 22nd? Additional days between the seasons Yávië and Quelle to get 365 days (endea = in the middle)
Narquelië 30th Sun fading, fire dwindling October decreasing solar radiation (quelië, quelle = passing, fading, decrease)
Hísime 30th Foggy November First cold days with a lot of fog (híse, hísië = fog, mistiness)
Ringare 30th Cold days, frost days December Beginning of winter with frost (ringië = cold; -are = days)
Narvinye 30th Solar renewal, new fire January Time after the winter solstice (vinya = young, youthful, new, renewed)
Nénime 30th Wetter, waterier February Melting the snow and ice (nenya = wet, watery)
Súlime 30th Windier March Month that often brings storms, the same day and night (súle = breath, breath, wind)
Mettare 01 last day around March 28th Last day of a solar year (additional day; metta = end, last)

The Valinórian division of time

In the Valinor calendar there was a five-day week called Lemnar, which means five days after the number of fingers (leper) or Aldalemmar (tree week). The days were called Ar Manweo (day Manwes), Ar Ulmo (day Ulmos), Ar Fanturion (day of the spirit brothers, Irmo / Námo), Ar Veruo (day of the married, Manwe / Varda and Aule / Yavanna) and Ar Neldion (day of Three, Osse / Orome / Tulkas). In the Valian year there was an extra week in summer called Endiën (the middle ones), the Saiwesana (midsummer day) was the middle of these days. In Valinor, Valian years were counted, which corresponded to one hundredth of a Valian age. An hour in Valinor at the time of the Two Trees was seven times longer than one hour of our time calculation, so that a day (12 hours) in Valinor had 84 hours of sunshine. A year had 1000 Valian days and thus corresponded to 9,582 solar years later.

The calendar of Imladris

The calendar known as the Calendar of Imladris can be considered representative of all Elves in Middle-earth (not Valinor). It is divided as follows: The year begins with Yestare, New Year's Day, which roughly corresponds to March 29 of the Gregorian calendar. An Elvish week (Enquië) in Rivendell (Imladris) counted six days of the week. 1. Elenya (starry day), 2. Anarya (sunny day), 3. Isilya (lunar day), 4. Aldúya (day of trees), 5. Menelya (heavenly day), 6. Tárion (king's day), also Valarya (valar day) or Orodinya (day of the gods).

A peculiarity of the Imladris calendar is that it has six seasons. The first season is Tuile (driving out, breaking up, spring) it has 54 days, which corresponds to nine weeks. This is followed by Laire (greens, song, summer) with 72 days and Yávië (harvest, fruiting, early autumn) with 54 days. The three cold or dark seasons are Quelle (fading, passing away) or Lasse Lanta (leaf fall), 54 days, Hríve (frost, winter), 72 days and Coire (awakening), 54 days. In addition, the Elves had a so-called Yén (long year) which comprised 144 solar years (loa "growth" or coranar "sun round"), 8,766 weeks (inquier) or 52,596 days (ré or are). In order to adjust the inaccuracy of the calendar to the actual orbit of the earth around the sun, the enderi have been doubled every twelfth solar year, which equates to our leap year .

The calendar of the kings

The so-called royal calendar is a modified form of the Imladris calendar. It was used until the year 2100 of the Third Age. In contrast to the Elvish system, the Númenórer had introduced a seven-day week instead of the six-day week. The year had 12 astars (months) with 30 days each, as described in the general model with the five additional days to get to the number 365. The royal year began with the winter solstice with the month of Narvinye, which now followed the Yestare. Instead of the "enderi" there were two months (Nárië and Cermië) that had 31 days and between them a single additional day, the Loende (midsummer day). This time division comes very close to the modern Gregorian calendar, because a leap year has been introduced every fourth year. The exception was the last year of a century (Haranye). The additional day was added to the loende so that a leap year had two enderi (middle days ). From 2100, this calendar was replaced by the Truchsessenzzeitrechnung. This showed only small deviations from the king's calculation, so instead of Nárië and Cermië the months Súlime and Yavannië had 31 days. These days were called Tuilére (budding, sowing) and Yáviére (harvest time). Only the Shire and Bree had their own calendar, and the Dúnedain of the north used Sindarin names instead of Quenya.

With the end of the War of the Ring, the Truchsessenzeitzeitung lost its validity. The Third Age of the Sun officially ended on September 29th, 3021. That was the day on which the last ship of the Elves with Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf and Galadriel left Middle-earth for Valinor. The first day of the fourth, the age of human rule, is March 25th of this year, the 2nd anniversary of the final destruction of Sauron.

The Shire Calendar

The era in the Shire begins with the colonization of Eriador by the hobbits. The first Shire year corresponded to the year 1601 of the Third Age of King's Reckoning and the year 1300 in Bree. The weeks had seven days each: Sterrendei (starry day), Sunnendei (sunny day), Monendei (lunar day), Trewesdei (tree day), Hevenesdei (sky day), Meresdei (sea day) and the Hohdei (ruler day). Later, at the time of the War of the Ring, this had become Stertag, Sunday, Monday, Trewstag, Hevenstag (also Henstag), Merstag and Hochtag. Here, too, the year had 12 months with 30 days each. The additional days were divided into two Jultdays (at the turn of the year) and three summer days (1st lithe, midday and 2nd lithe). There were also leap years, then in summer the Überlithe (a special holiday) was added to the mean days.

The year began on July 2nd, followed by the months of Nachjul, Solmath, Rethe, Astron, Thrimidge, Vorlithe, then came the three midsummer days and the months of Nachlithe, Wedmath, Halimath, Winterilth, Blotmath, Vorjul and the final July 1st. With the calendar reform in the year 2700 (DZ dinner bill), the midsummer days were removed from the weekly bill in the Shire, so that a year had exactly 52 weeks with seven days each and thus the calendar day fell on an identical weekday in every year. The year always began with a Saturday (star day) and ended on Friday (high day).

Constellations in Middle Earth

The first known constellation in Middle-earth is the so-called sickle of Varda, which was called Valacirca (Valarsichel) or Atasilme (New Shine) and corresponds to the constellation Big Dipper, Big Bear . Furthermore, the constellations Orion are under the name Menelmacar, Telumehtar (Heavenly Warriors) or Mordo ( Darkbringer ) and the Pleiades as Sihtalocte (swarm of flies), Otselen (seven stars) or Mirrembe (star assembly). The planets of our solar system are also known by name.

Stars and Planets (Quenya names)
  • Sun = Anar (hot flame), Ancale, Ancalíme (very bright or brightest light), Helmir (heavenly jewel), Calmir (light jewel), Úrin (the glowing one)
  • Moon = Isil (the silver one), Rána (the wanderer)
  • Mars or Mercury = Carnil (the red one), Macar (fighter)
  • Mercury = Fionwe Úrion, Fionil (son of the sun), Eonwe (winged messenger, eagle creature)
  • Jupiter = Alcar, Alcarinque (the most radiant), Silindo (silver radiant)
  • Neptune or Uranus = Luinil (squill), Nénar (watery)
  • Saturn = Lumbar (the enveloped)
  • Venus = Tacol (sign carrier, fixed sign)
  • Earth = Arda (world), Ambar (inhabited world)

Sources

In addition to linguistic research and mythology itself, the calculation of time plays a special role in Tolkien's work, not only to structure the stories and put them into context, Tolkien was quite interested in the calendar system itself as a central historiographic tool. The five- and six-day weeks of the Elven calendars are an attempt to break away from the Sumerian-Christian calendar tradition (also because, in the context of mythology, the sun and moon were explicitly created as secondary, i.e. year, month and day not as a basis could serve the early time measurement and thus also the Elvish cultural tradition).

The ages have been systematically depicted by Tolkien in the timeline of the Westlands from the Second Age to the departure of the Elves into the Immortal Lands and the beginning of the Fourth Age , a chapter of the appendices to the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is also a detailed chapter dedicated to the Shire calendar, in which other calendar systems, especially the connection with the contemporary calendar of kings , are discussed. Of course, detailed explanations of the first ages can be found in the Silmarillion in particular . Otherwise, many other scattered information was collected and processed by factory researchers.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c J. RR Tolkien: The Silmarillion.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Robert Foster: The Great Middle Earth Lexicon.
  3. ↑ JRR Tolkien: The Book of Lost Stories . Part 1, pp. 249-252.
  4. ↑ So in the appendix to the Lord of the Rings and in the History of Middle-earth .
  5. ↑ The Fourth Age. (PDF; 127 kB) helmutwpesch.de, accessed on May 29, 2015 .
  6. ↑ The names are in Quenya, although Sindarin was spoken in Middle-earth
  7. ↑ JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings.
  8. ↑ a b Klett-Cotta: JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings. Appendices and registers. Completely updated and revised translation. In: klett-cotta.de. Klett-Cotta, accessed on May 29, 2015 .