Happy Birthday, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins

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Hobbit Day Banner (c)theisleofapples
Hobbit Day Banner (c)theisleofapples

22nd September is a very special day for Tolkien fans all over the world as it is the birthday of two very special hobbits – Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

On this day the world over people celebrate Middle-earth and its creator, J.R.R. Tolkien, in many different ways – from simply re-reading the books to throwing a party, from sharing the love and fellowship via social media to meeting up with friends to enjoy The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings in one way or another.

To give you an idea of how people go about this I’d love to show you some pictures from Instagram where a lot of fans from all over the world are posting pictures on #HobbitDay as it is more generally called. It is quite lovely to see that libraries and universities have started to chime in with the fans, offering links to their Tolkien collections.

Sharing the love from all over the world

It is a lot of fun to browse through the hashtag #HobbitDay. More than 4,000 pictures and videos have been posted, most of which appeared in recent years, of course, and the most popular had garnered 26K+ views at the time of writing (from a travel blogger, of course!) You will find a Gandalf sitting in a library, book posts, hand-drawn cards, quite a few shops offering hobbit discounts for the day (why they didn’t offer 33% I cannot understand!), giveaways, and today is also the end of #TolkienWeek, another recent hashtag which lets the fun begin a week before #HobbitDay.

 

 

Happy #HobbitDay from #txst! We hope you enjoy a grand adventure today…or at least second breakfast.

Ein von Texas State University (@txst) gepostetes Foto am

 

 

‘My dear Bagginses and Boffins, and my dear Tooks and Brandybucks, and Grubbs, and Chubbs, and Burrowses, and Hornblowers, and Bolgers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, Brockhouses and Proudfoots. […] Also my good Sackville-Bagginses that I welcome back at last to Bag End. Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday: I am eleventy-one today! I hope you are all enjoying yourselves as much as I am. I shall not keep you long. I have called you all together for a Purpose. Indeed, for Three Purposes! First of all, to tell you that I am immensely fond of you all, and that eleventy-one years is too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. Secondly, to celebrate my birthday. I should say: OUR birthday. For it is, of course, also the birthday of my heir and nephew, Frodo. He comes of age and into his inheritance today. Together we score one hundred and forty-four. Your numbers were chosen to fit this remarkable total: One Gross, if I may use the expression. It is also, if I may be allowed to refer to ancient history, the anniversary of my arrival by barrel at Esgaroth on the Long Lake; though the fact that it was my birthday slipped my memory on that occasion. I was only fifty-one then, and birthdays did not seem so important. The banquet was very splendid, however, though I had a bad cold at the time, I remember, and could only say ‘thag you very buch’. I now repeat it more correctly: Thank you very much for coming to my little party. Thirdly, and finally, I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT. I regret to announce that — though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you — this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOODBYE!’ / . #TolkienWeek #HobbitDay . . #LOTR #thelordoftherings #lordoftherings #thehobbit #thesilmarillion #middleearth #jrrtolkien #tolkien #tolkiencollection #legendarium #peterjackson #newzealand #lotrtrilogy #thehobbittrilogy #bilbobaggins #frodobaggins #hobbits #theshire #books #literature #cinema #movies #instabook #bookstagram #bookporn #booklover #bookworm #instamovie

Ein von Lu ~ (@theisleofapples) gepostetes Foto am

 

 

‘Then the weather clouded over. That was on Wednesday the eve of the Party. Anxiety was intense. Then Thursday, September 22, actually dawned. The sun got up, the clouds vanished, flags were unfurled and the fun began.’ / . Perfect weather here, just as in the book! I know, I’ve made a mess with the tags (I AM a mess, what did you expect!? ), but now I should have included all of you that are celebrating #TolkienWeek in time for the Big Day (feel free to add yourself if I haven’t, obviously) I’m honestly so pumped for #HobbitDay tomorrow! I’m going to post three pictures, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening (according to my time-zone), along with quotes from the first chapter of Fellowship that are actually relevant to the picture/chronology, in order to span the entirety of the day until the big celebration on the Party Field! I’m telling you now because I will only include quotes in the captions, and so any stupid comment from yours truly will be absent this time around How are you going to express your excitement for the upcoming celebration? Have you planned it already or are you going with the flow and gloriously improvise? Will you be under the covers with a mug of ale/wine/tea/coffee and food, or immersed in nature in true hobbit style? Will you raise a glass in silence, or will you have a blast and dance the Springle-ring with your family/friends/local Tolkien society? In any case, having fun is VITAL, so let’s make it, in Bilbo’s own words ‘…a night to remember.’ ⛺ . . #LOTR #thelordoftherings #lordoftherings #thehobbit #thesilmarillion #middleearth #jrrtolkien #tolkien #tolkienbooks #tolkiencollection #legendarium #peterjackson #newzealand #lotrtrilogy #thehobbittrilogy #books #literature #cinema #movies #instabook #bookstagram #bookporn #booklover #bookworm #instamovie

Ein von Lu ~ (@theisleofapples) gepostetes Foto am

 

Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. _______________________________________________________ #livelaughbooksseptember – Hobbit Day #ampersandsept16 – Hobbit – Happy birthday to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins _______________________________________________________ Thank you so much for all your kind get well wishes on my previous post! I promise to answer each of you, individually, in the next day or two, when I start to feel better. I’m going to the doctor today because I think it may be tonsillitis. I usually have at least one case of this every year – – –

Ein von Melwife•mom•nerd•christian (@bookish.mel) gepostetes Foto am

 

Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. _______________________________________________________ #livelaughbooksseptember – Hobbit Day #ampersandsept16 – Hobbit – Happy birthday to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins _______________________________________________________ Thank you so much for all your kind get well wishes on my previous post! I promise to answer each of you, individually, in the next day or two, when I start to feel better. I’m going to the doctor today because I think it may be tonsillitis. I usually have at least one case of this every year – – –

Ein von Melwife•mom•nerd•christian (@bookish.mel) gepostetes Foto am

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Hobbit Day 😀

Picture credit: Hobbit Day Banner by theisleofapples

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Marcel R. Bülles

A Tolkien fan for thirty years (and more to come...) Founding chairman of the German Tolkien Society, Co-Founder of Ring*Con, Co-Founder of the ITF, host, presenter and fantasy expert