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Hobbit Day
āRoads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under treeā¦ā
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, 1937
This literary inspired tartan is a lovely way to turn a fictional journey through Middle-earth into a road of coloured threads.
The Walking Song tartan was created as a literary and artistic homage to The Hobbit, looking ahead to the 90th anniversary of its publication in 1937. The tartan celebrates some of the themes that have made Tolkienās story so enduring: journey and adventure, fellowship, the pull of the roadāand, ultimately, homecoming.
The name Walking Song draws on the tradition of hobbit walking songs and the recurring idea that āthe road goes ever on.ā
The design itself grew from a wonderfully appropriate source: J.R.R. Tolkienās own artwork for the dust jacket of the 1937 first edition. On the spine, a straight white road passes through forest, over hills and mountains and across water before reaching Erebor beneath the Lonely Mountain. To the designer, the intersecting landscape suddenly began to resemble a tartanāroad, ridgelines, forests and water resolving themselves into threads and the lines of a sett.
Blue, green, black and white consequently reflect the mountains, forests, sky, water and road of Tolkienās artwork. There are also some delightful details hidden within the sett. Thirty-seven black and green threads recall 1937, the year The Hobbit was published; 14 white threads represent the travelling company; and three black lines among the green recall the three trolls turned to stone. Even the symmetry has meaning, reflecting that most Hobbit-like of journeys: āthere and back againāāthe adventure outward and the eventual return home.
The Walking Song tartan registration specifically references J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit and Tolkienās original artwork. These references were approved by Middle-earth Enterprises, the company that manages certain rights associated with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, allowing them to be included in the tartanās official registration with the Scottish Register of Tartans. āThe Road goes ever on and onā š š š¤ š¤ āļø š š š„¾ šļø š š”
Hobbit Day is celebrated each year on September 22, the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday on that date, while Frodo turns 33āthe age at which hobbits are considered adults. The Tolkien Society designated September 22 as Hobbit Day in 1978 and also observes the week containing it as Tolkien Week.
J. R. R. Tolkienās The Hobbit was first published on September 21, 1937. Written initially with younger readers in mind, it tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and thirteen dwarves on their journey to the Lonely Mountain. The bookās success encouraged Tolkienās publisher to request another story about hobbits, which eventually developed into the much larger The Lord of the Rings.
The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Together, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into many languages. They are among the most widely read works of modern fantasy literature.
Tolkien was an Oxford professor and philologist specializing in language and medieval literature. His academic knowledge of Old English, Germanic languages, Norse literature and medieval texts strongly influenced Middle-earth. He also created languages of his own, particularly the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin, and developed extensive histories, genealogies, calendars and writing systems for the peoples who spoke them.
The Lord of the Rings became especially popular in the United States during the 1960s, when it developed a large following among college students and younger readers. Tolkien-related slogans, including āFrodo Lives,ā appeared on buttons, posters and graffiti. The books remained continuously popular through subsequent decades and became an important influence on modern fantasy fiction, games and popular culture.
Tolkienās work reached another very large international audience through Peter Jacksonās film adaptations. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was released from 2001 to 2003, followed by The Hobbit trilogy from 2012 to 2014. The films were major international commercial successes and contributed to renewed sales and interest in Tolkienās books.
Today, Hobbit Day is marked by Tolkien societies, libraries, schools and individual readers in a variety of countries. Celebrations commonly include readings from the books, costumes, Tolkien-themed gatherings and meals inspired by those described in the Shire.
For more on this year's celebrations, click the dust jacket design for the first 1937 edition of The Hobbit, created by J.R.R. Tolkien himself!