Actually, Websters makes the plural Solstices, and numerous other sites refer to Equinoxes. (How pedestrian.) I was pondering Special Dates in Lord of the Rings while I was trying to schedule some things so that I would remember them. Associating them with Tolkien-dates seemed like a good idea. Three dates came immediately to mind: Frodo's birthday, Fellowship Departure day, and Ring Destruction Day. I noticed a few seasonal connections.
Fellowship Departure Day (from Rivendell) is Dec 25, with obvious connections to Christmas. Ring Destruction Day according to Shipley is related to the old date for Easter. So those two days could arguably hve a purely religious significance to Tolkien. However, Frodo's birthday (and Bilbo's) on Sept 22 is on or near the Autumn Equinox. Ring Destruction Day is rather near to the Spring Equinox. And Christmas is a mere four days after the Winter Solstice, mostly due to midieval Calendar-shifts if memory serves; a four-day calendar shift would explain both rather neatly.
So from the Shire to Rivendell is Frodo's Autumn; from Rivendell to Mount Doom is his Winter, followed by his Spring... what begins his summer?
Quote:
|
And Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undómiel in the City of the Kings upon the day of Midsummer...
|
Frodo returns to Rivendell to celebrate his birthday with Bilbo (on or near the autumnal equinox) he enters Autumn again. So his trip back to the Shire takes place in Autumn, winter's chill descending.
What other equinox/solstice events come to mind? Was this a pervasive pattern for Tolkien (gardener that he was) or was it just this quest? And what seasonal things have I left out?
Estelyn started something seasonal in
this thread wherein lie some interesting points; since then Shippey seems to have clarified (or authorized?) the Easter connection but not neccessarily the vernal equinox.