New Reckoning - Calendar in 4th Age Gondor & Arnor

[Valandil]

Backstory: I was doing an LOTR re-read, and got side-tracked from Appendix D to read 8 other books. (two early American stories by Kenneth Roberts, and the six complete Jane Austen novels). Anyway - got back and had only about 2 pages left in Appendix D. Read those yesterday, and noticed some interesting stuff right at the end, which I hadn't noticed before. Don't know if I was so much more interested in pre-4th age dating, or if my eyes and mind were glazed over in previous readings by that point or whatever.

So here's the deal - I knew that March 25 was reckoned New Year's Day in the Restored Kingdom in the 4th Age - because of the destruction of the Ring and Sauron's (and Mordor's) Fall on that day. What I didn't catch at first - it looks like that day - March 25 - became the start of April in later years - April 1. So all the months were shifted a few days. And the middle days of the year falls in the Shire's September, just after (Bilbo and) Frodo's birthday - September 22. In the Restored Kingdom, they make that birthday (adjusted, I suppose - right at the end of September) a big holiday. For Leap Years - this becomes the day they double up, just before the three "middle days".

It's humorous too - and so "Shire-like" - as JRRT points out the differences between New Reckoning in Gondor & Arnor - and the continuation of Shire Reckoning. Differences:
*The Shire continues their own progression of year numbers, instead of re-starting at "1"
*The Shire considers Yule 2 of 1422 (their standard New Year's Day) as the start of the Fourth Age, whereas Gondor treated it as March 25 (now April 1? not totally clear), 3021 - over 9 months earlier.
*While Frodo was honored by all the rest of the world by having his birthday celebrated - there was no celebration at September 22 in the Shire.
*The only holidays in the Shire associated with those times are - April 6, which has three alternate explanations associated with the celebration - and November 2, which is celebrated with blowing of horns and feasting, to commemorate the Scouring of the Shire. All locally-connected commemorations.

I guess I used to think that when March 25 became the New Year's Day - that this meant, for instance - one day might be March 24, Year 10 - the next would be March 25, Year 11. That seemed a bit odd to me - but whatever. However, there's a line in the narrative stating that the year now began with April. This is what I didn't catch before.

And... we see further the provincial tendencies of the Hobbits.