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A query if you will!

Basically, Hobbits celebrate Yule don't they? But NOT Christmas...they obviously don't because, well, Jesus just didn't exist in Middle-earth. They had Eru and all the other amazing beings instead

Anyway...I was just wondering whether - you're going to hate me for saying this - Tolkien had made a minor error there?

I looked up the definition of 'Yule' in a dictionary, and it came up with 'Christmas time'. But surely, the hobbits don't have Christmas?

Is 'Christmas' just what Yule has been known as over the years or is it just an alternative name? I always thought that 'Yule' was just a time of celebration that fell on/around christmas but didn't actually celebrate the birth of Christ.

I get the impression that the 'Yule' in the Shire is the celebration of Winter and the New Year (it also falls on 25th Dec by the Shire Calendar) but I was just wondering whether Tolkien wanted Hobbits to have their own version of Christmas, but obviously, not the same sort of celebrations as we have.

Please give me your opinion, I'm rather confused!

And I'm sorry if this makes no sense!

yule means christmas time, but im sure someone could infer yule to mean an annual season of charity and giving, like in the shire....not too confusing i dont reckon

Yes, I am assuming that Tolkien meant it as an annual celebration, for giving and charity. And I know, the actual idea isn't too confusing, I was just wondering whether Tolkien meant for it to be 'Christmas' or, as you said, a different annual celebration.

I was curious because I have lost count of the number of fanfiction stories I have read where the Hobbits are celebrating Christmas!

Thanks for the reply!

anytime

... Yule or Jol is the old Germanic name for winter solstice and older than the idea of christmas, now its still used for the scandinavian christmas (in danish, norwegian, swedish)... coming from old norse, "jol-". Later the christians came and wanted to get rid of these "pagan traditions" and covered the old germanic festivals with their own christian versions... like christmas for yule/solstice, easter as the winter-farewell and so on - so I think the name Yule is quite fitting for the hobbit calendary reckoning as their year really starts around winter solstice.

Wow - it was ages ago that I started thid thread! But thank you - you put my mind at rest!

lol yey ages ago... on the 2nd Yule first day of the new hobbit year...

well that about sums it up^^...

i've always thought that yule was a celebration for the winter solstice...thanks for clearing that up for me as well...