T.A. 3018 Midyear’s Day: Gandalf is on the move

Happy Mid-year’s Day! This is a special holiday in the Shire Calendar, which does not belong to any month of the calendar, but also, due to Shire-reform, does not fall on any day of the week! So tomorrow, 2 Lithe, will always fall on a Saturday (a.k.a. Sterday). This also means that, starting tomorrow, the days of the week in our modern Gregorian calendar will match up with the days of the week in the Shire Calendar, culturally speaking at least. Since Monday is the first day of the week in our calendar, but in the Shire Calendar, Saturday (Sterday) is the first day of the week. The weekdays in these calendars will continue to culturally match up for 1 year, until Mid-year’s Day next year.

On this day in T.A. 3018 (S.R. 1418), Gandalf had already departed the Shire some days before and then meets Radagast on this day. Then he heads to Bree and leaves a letter to Frodo with Barliman Butterbur this evening at the Prancing Pony.

Since it’s a new moon, there is no moon to see on this day (unless you were lucky enough to have caught the real-world eclipse), but depending on which day Gandalf departed the Shire, he may have spotted a thin crescent moon rising before the sun when he left at dawn.

The moon rising at dawn over the Shire on T.A. 3018 June 28 (S.R. 1418 Forelithe 28). Created in Stellarium using the moon of 1941 June 21 near Oxford, UK.

There is no date given in Appendix B for Gandalf’s departure, and in the story it’s only said that Gandalf left “at the end of June”. So for this entry in the Lunar Read-along, I put his departure at the literal end of June, T.A. 3018 June 30 (S.R. 1418 Forelithe 30); but if Gandalf departed the Shire at dawn on the 28th instead, then he may have seen something like the simulation shown above. On the other hand, if Gandalf did depart at dawn on the 30th, then the moon probably would have been too close to new (and so too close to sun) to be visible that morning.

Gandalf the Grey by John Howe