ARTICLES: DWARVES

The Moon and Durin's Day, 2941 TA Author: Lalaith Complete article (with calculations) can be found here.

Synchronising calendars with the real astronomical events is already a sophisticated problem. In Middle-earth, it was worsened by the fact that different nations and species used individual calendars that were difficult to correlate with each other. The Dwarves, for example, once had a lunar calendar that was replaced by a solar one. But since the moon does not orbit Earth within an exact fraction of a solar year, the lunar calendar thus shifts against the solar one by a couple of days. Locating an important lunar holiday in a solar calendar system therefore poses a little challenge. Calculating Easter Sunday is based upon that very problem.

Another such date is month and day of Durin's Day, the dwarvish New Year, in the solar year 2941 TA. It played a crucial rôle in the historical events and historians are of course interested in determining when it exactly was. Unfortunately, the sources do not provide an accurate time-table. Therefore, the determination of Durin's Day in 2941 TA has to be based upon secondary evidence. For an analysis of the individual calendar systems of Middle-earth including the Dwarvish reckoning, see The Reckoning of Time.

The moon at midsummer's eve
At midsummer's eve in Rivendell, Thorin Oakenshield declared himself utterly unable to predict Durin's Day: "The first day of the dwarves' New Year is as all should know the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin's Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together. But this will not help us much, I fear, for it passes our skill in these days to guess when such a time will come again." (H III)

Both Gandalf and Elrond must have had a hard time to suppress a chuckle. A simple lunar ephemeris - no doubt available in Rivendell - would have told the Dwarf precisely when the new moon would be, so that he could set up his observational site at Erebor and wait for a clear sky to observe the setting young moon. Gandalf's reply "That remains to be seen" (ibid.) was probably given under utmost constraint not to insult the honourable Dwarf. And worse: the comment heard from some fellow a few days later about the "very next first moon of autumn - 'and perhaps it will be Durin's Day'" (IV) testifies an astronomical ignorance of a degree that cannot be excused even by living underground. We must assume several reasons why "Gandalf had shaken his head and said nothing" (ibid.).

Lacking the ephemeris that Elrond did not supply for diplomatic courtesy, we have to use whatever observational data H provides. Fortunately, there is one lunar phase recorded quite exactly in H III: at the same day, midsummer's eve 2941, the moon was "a broad silver crescent" in the evening. That translates into a late first quarter moon, between 4 and 6 days old. Earlier than that it would have been a narrow silver crescent and later gibbous. Knowing this, it ought to be easy to calculate the lunar phases on two days precise, hoping to verify them against further observational data.

But when was midsummer's eve celebrated in Rivendell? Was it indeed corresponding to 1 Lithe in the Shire Reckoning as most people incline to believe? The Calendar of Imladris does not mark the Lithedays as anything special. We may, however, use the quite exact observational data from LR for verification. The two following quotations from FR may help to determine the lunar ephemeris of 3019 TA (the roman numerals refer to the months of the Shire Reckoning, in contrast to those of the Gregorian calendar):

9.I.: "The Moon, now at the full, rose over the mountains." (Six days later, 15.I., the Company reached Moria.)

23.II., Aragorn to Frodo: "And yestereve a new moon came again. Winter is nearly gone."

Calculating these ephemeris backwards to 2941 TA, we find that the waxing crescent phase of the moon occurred 11 to 13 days before solstice. Given that, we would have to assume that Rivenvell's midsummer's eve rather occurred around 19.VI. in the Shire Reckoning. Whether or not this assumption is credible may be seen by comparing the actual observational data:

The lunar observations of 2941 TA

"It will soon be June": From the encounter with the trolls, not given any more precise, we acquire our first reliable observation: "It was nearly night ... a wandering moon appeared above the hills". (H, II) This has to be a waxing or full moon; but we are not told whether it appeared East or West. The midsummer tradition equating midsummer's eve with 1 Lithe would require this to be an extremely young moon for it defines a new moon on 27.V. It is doubtful that such one would have been observable under the bad weather conditions prevailing then. The observation better agrees with the full moon defined by LR for 28.V.
(By the way, contradictory data are given for the day of departure from Bywater: Once the company is said to be "jogging off from the inn one fine morning just before May" (II), but another time Bilbo recalls when "they started their journey that May morning long ago." (VIII) QE establishes "Wednesday, April the 26th", as the date of the Unexpected Party, and so the 27th as the day of departure. The delay on the road is surprisingly long, compared to Frodo's travel speed. Was the Prancing Pony more attractive to the Dwarves than suited them?)


Rivendell was reached when "the light became very dim, for the moon had not risen" (III). It was in third quarter evidently, rising much after sunset. This agrees with the LR full moon of 28.V. but not with one at 10.VI. that the midsummer tradition requires. Why would it take two weeks for the Dwarves to cross a distance Glorfindel passed on horseback in two days?


"They stayed long in that good house, fourteen days at least" (III), say, sixteen or seventeen. The crescent moon of midsummer's eve agrees with the waning moon on the day of arrival, independent of whenever midsummer's eve was.


"It was Monday night or Tuesday morning" (VI) when the company was captured by the goblins. The weather was stormy and observations prevented. On the following Thursday, however, "there will be a bit of moon", and later during the night "the moon was up and was shining into the clearing" (VI). This moon was obviously waning, but rose soon enough that the Eagles had time to save the company and yet for Bilbo to sleep "all night" (VI) and wake up "with the early sun shining in his eyes" (VII). In any case, all of that happened in the first half of July, H dating a full moon at 07.VII. but LR at 28. VI.


Friday and Saturday night were spent in Beorn's house. The following Tuesday evening, "they rode still forward after dusk and into the night beneath the moon." (VII) But this would require a new moon to have occurred after the captivity by the goblins and can hardly be reconciled with a waning moon rising soon enough on Thursday before to account for all the events happening under moonshine. LR allows for a new moon on Monday 10.VII., but the young moon of the following evening would have been too faint for observation. In any case the "night beneath the moon" probably has to be understood metaphorically and does not indicate an actual observation. The earlier date of Gandalf's departure implied by LR, however, better agrees with the White Council's attack on Dol Guldur in late summer (DF).


We do not know how much time was lost in Mirkwood. On some occasion in late August, the company was imprisoned by the Wood-elves. It was then noted that "autumn was come again" (IX) for Thranduil was wearing his autumn wreath. We have no informations on the calendar of the Wood-elves; but if it was similar to the Calendar of Imladris the season of iavas or autumn had started at 10.VIII., agreeing with the date of captivity. The full moon seen on Tolkien's drawing in AI however is clearly an error and may have been another cause for rejecting the image.


The time between was spent underground so that any information on how many days had passed was lost. The escape succeeded on 21.IX., as Bilbo later recalled. On his birthday 22.IX. and his "arrival by barrel at Esgaroth on the Long Lake" (FR) he noted constellations such as Valacirca in the late night sky but no moon. This agrees with a new moon on 20.IX. as required by the midsummer tradition, and as well with a late second quarter moon as defined by LR, esp. since the westward view was blocked to Bilbo by Mirkwood's edge.


"At the end of a fortnight Thorin began to think of departure" (H, X). This was around 6.X.2941. The company set out not immediately, though, but "one day, although autumn was now getting far on" (ibid.). Four days from Esgaroth, they established their camp at Ravenhill (H, XI), spend a couple of days searching for the secret door, and some further days in front of it. Durin's Day was recorded by Bilbo Baggins: "Soon he saw the orange ball of the sun sinking towards the level of his eyes. He went to the opening and there pale and faint was a thin new moon above the rim of Earth" (H, XI). The day before, Thorin courteously had a look into a calendar and commented: "Tomorrow begins the last week of autumn" (ibid.). This statement is curious, for the seasons "had no exact definitions" (TC), probably meaning they were differently applied in different regions, according to the local climate. Certain is that the prediction of winter was not really Thorin's idea: the Steward's Reckoning then in use by the Dwarves applied it rather to the Yule-tide at which Bilbo and Gandalf were already back in Beorn's house (H, XVIII). Thorin may rather have referred to the "season" of quellë, "also used for the latter part of autumn and the beginning of winter" (TC), and the usage of "winter" here was an error by the translator. Matter of fact, the recorded events force us to locate Durin's Day much earlier than Yule.
The next new moon after establishing Ravenhill occurred on 20.X. according to the midsummer tradition, but is dated by LR much later, on 08.XI. However, 22. X., the earliest possible observable setting, was indeed a Saturday as Thorin seemed to imply. In that case the beginning of winter was perhaps reckoned by the Dwarves at 1.XI. If LR is accepted, though, 08.XI. was a Monday and the next week began only as late as the 13th, delaying the heliacal observation to five days after new moon. Such a moon would not have been pale, faint, and thin. Did Bilbo for once fail to transform foreign data into the Shire Calendar? The subsequent discussion among the Dwarves that Thorin raised with his calendaric statement would not make sense after all if Bilbo had done so. In that case we may consider not a Shire Monday but an Elenya of the Steward's Reckoning! If this is true, we may use that date to set up the exact daily calendar of 2941 TA and henceforth of all the other years...


Twelve days passed from Durin's Day until Erebor was besieged by the armies of Men and Wood-elves. The Battle of Five Armies happened at least another week later ("the days passed slowly and wearily"), and a few further days were spent till Thorin's burial and Bilbo's departure from Erebor. Together with Gandalf and Beorn they went around Mirkwood in the North and reached Beorn's house at Yule-tide, i. e. in late December. H thus gives them six weeks for that voyage, LR about four. In comparison to the time the Dwarves spent walking in Mirkwood, the latter schedule seems tough but not impossible, considering that on the way back Gandalf and Bilbo were mounted and Beorn could stride extremely fast.
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