A merry Christmas and our small gift for you!
Tom Loback – Fëanor (2014)
„A merry Christmas and God bless you all. (…) Well here comes Christmas! That astonishing thing that no ‚commercialism’ can in fact defile – unless you let it. I hope, my dearest, that it will bring you some rest and refreshment in every way, & I shall remember you in communion (as always but specially) and wish that I had all my family beside me in the ancient patriarchal way! Your own Father.”
(J.R.R. Tolkien in his letter to Michael Tolkien, 19 December 1962)
A sample page of our Shire Calendar
As this year’s Christmas present we present our Shire Calendar for 2018 (1395 S.R.) in which the Gregorian dates are translated into the dates of the Shire Reckoning according to the Reform of Our Calendar which is based upon Tolkien’s calculations published in Ch. Scull and W. G. Hammond’s A Reader’s Companion, p.p. xlv-l (note that our 25 December is the equivalent of 2 Yule or New Year’s Day like it was in the Catholic reckoning in mediaeval England). Our calendar’s order is borrowed from the publication of Steve Pillinger from 1981 to 1982 about which you can read on Tolkien Gateway.
The Calendar with three illustrations presenting artists’ vision of Fëanor and the Silmarils (by Tom Loback with Ryszard „Galadhorn” Derdziński’s Quenya texts in Tengwar letters) can be downloaded in the PDF format. Note the use of the Elvish letters and numerals (in the decimal system) according to Tengwar mode for Westron (English).
This Calendar is a small tribute to our great Friend and artistic master, Tom Loback (1949-2015).
Shire Calendar 2018
Very best wishes for Yule!