March 25

March 25 is the single most consequential date in the closing years of the Third Age, the day on which the Quest of the Ring reaches its climax and the long war against Sauron is decided. On that day Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee reach the Sammath Naur, the Chambers of Fire, deep within Mount Doom. At the very brink of the Cracks of Doom Frodo claims the Ring for his own and puts it on his finger, but Gollum, who has followed them, seizes the Ring and falls into the fire, destroying both himself and the Ring. The destruction of the Ring brings about the immediate downfall of Barad-dûr and the overthrow of Sauron. The Dark Tower crumbles, the Black Gate is hurled in ruin, and the Nazgûl are consumed in the fiery cataclysm. The armies of Mordor are thrown into panic and rout, and the Captains of the West, who had marched to the Black Gate as a diversion, witness the sudden victory.

The Establishment of a New Calendar

In the restored Kingdom of Gondor, March 25 is adopted as the first day of the New Reckoning, the calendar that commemorates the fall of Sauron and the deeds of the Ring-bearers. The year now begins on this date, replacing the older Kings' Reckoning. The months retain their former names but now start five days earlier than before. Three Enderi, or Middle-days, are inserted between Yavannië (September) and Narquelië (October), corresponding to September 23, 24, and 25 old style. In honour of Frodo, Yavannië 30, which corresponds to the former September 22, his birthday, is made a festival, and the leap-year is provided for by doubling this feast, called Cormarë or Ring-day. The Fourth Age is held to have begun with the departure of Master Elrond in September 3021, but for purposes of record in the Kingdom, Fourth Age 1 is the year that begins according to the New Reckoning on March 25, 3021, old style.

Commemoration in the Shire

In the Shire, the old calendar is retained and Shire Reckoning is continued. Fourth Age 1 is called 1422, and the Hobbits maintain that the new age began with 2 Yule 1422, not in the previous March. There is no record of the Shire-folk commemorating March 25 or September 22 as formal holidays. However, in the Westfarthing, especially in the country round Hobbiton Hill, a custom grows up of making holiday and dancing in the Party Field, when weather permits, on April 6. Some say it is old Sam Gardner's birthday, some that it is the day on which the Golden Tree first flowered in 1420, and some that it is the Elves' New Year. In the Buckland, the Horn of the Mark is blown at sundown every November 2 and bonfires and feastings follow.

The Birth of Elanor the Fair

March 25 also marks a personal milestone in the Shire. In the year 1421, on this very date, Samwise Gamgee's first child is born. Sam and his wife Rose had settled on calling him Frodo, with Frodo's leave, but the child is a girl. Frodo suggests the name Elanor, after the little golden flower that grew in the grass of Lothlórien, and Sam delightedly agrees. Elanor the Fair, as she is later known, becomes a maid of honour to Queen Arwen and marries Fastred of Greenholm. Her descendants, the Fairbairns of the Towers, long preserve the Red Book of Westmarch. In the reckoning of Gondor, the Fourth Age begins on this day, and the birth of Elanor is thus a symbol of the new age dawning in the Shire as well.