“Bilbo and Frodo happened to have the same birthday, September 22nd,” wrote Tolkien. And since 1978, September 22 (Wednesday) has become the annual date that LOTR fans celebrate Hobbit Day by dressing in costume, eating themselves silly, drinking a bit, singing songs, watching the movies, shooting fireworks, and walking barefoot.
This year we will be joining the fellowship of the nerds. This will require a trip to the grocery store and, in our case, since I don’t hunt, I’ll be driving across town for coney. But it’s worth it. After we finish our sixth meal of the day we’ll read some passages from the LOTR trilogy or from The Hobbit.
Stephanie is one blogger who cooked up a Hobbit Day feast back in 2007. Here’s her menu:
- First Breakfast: omelet, mushrooms, bacon (cooked in the fireplace), and coffee
- Second Breakfast: whipped cream and berries, seedcakes
- Elevensies: bread, cheese, fruits. This is when the ale started.
- Luncheon: leek and mushroom-stuffed puff pastry boxes, cold chicken
- Afternoon Tea: seedcakes, banana bread and Keemun tea
- Dinner: coney (rabbit) stew with red wine, onions, garlic, carrots and herbs, cooked in the fireplace for about 6 hours
- Supper: we were going to have a selection green salads, but could only muster up enough hunger for a few sprigs of watercress
Be creative—and enjoy!
Tony Reinke 
I shall kill some spiders on the 22nd, and very Bilbo-esque thing to do…
I hate spiders, as did Thomas Goodwin.
Grace and peace,
TB
You have GOTTA update us on how this one goes! This sounds too cool.
That sounds like a fun time. Perhaps in the future I’ll plan ahead and do the six meal thing, I’ll probably skip the rabbit though. However, I think I can adjust my schedule to watch some of the movies this year.
Not to be too picky about it, but Tolkien had New Year on the same day as the winter solstace. So technically, when you do a conversion between the Hobbit dates and our dating you have to shift things a bit.
Love your article so much that I linked it in my blog! I hope you had a blast! Please post more info because I want to do this next year.