Mettarë

Mettarë is the final day of the year in the calendar of the Eldar, the Elves of Middle-earth. It is the last of the days that stand outside the regular months, a day of ritual closure that brings the annual cycle to an end and stands as a threshold before the new year begins. In the Elvish reckoning, the year, or loa, was not a simple measure of time but a cycle of growth and change, and Mettarë was its concluding point, the moment when the old year was formally completed and the new one was about to be born.

The Elvish calendar, as described in the appendices to the Red Book of Westmarch, was a system of great antiquity and precision. The year was divided into six seasons, each with its own name and character, from the spring of tuilë through the summer of lairë and the autumn of yávië, to the fading of quelle, the winter of hrívë, and the stirring of coirë. The year itself began with yestarë, the day immediately before the first season, and it ended with mettarë, the day immediately after the last. These two days, along with the three enderi or 'middle-days' inserted between autumn and winter, were not part of any month but stood apart as days of special significance, marking the boundaries of the year's passage.

Mettarë was thus the counterpart of yestarë, the day of beginning. Where yestarë looked forward to the new growth of spring, Mettarë looked back on the completed year and forward to the renewal that would follow. It was a day of transition, a moment when the normal flow of time was suspended and the cycle of the seasons was, in a sense, held in balance. The day was a holiday, a time of rest and reflection, and it was followed immediately by the first day of the new year, so that the passage from one year to the next was marked by a single, continuous observance.

The Númenóreans, the great seafaring people who were the ancestors of the Dúnedain of Gondor and Arnor, adopted and adapted the Elvish calendar. They divided the year into twelve months and kept the custom of beginning the year in mid-winter, but they also retained the Elvish practice of setting certain days outside the months. In the Kings' Reckoning, as the Númenórean system was called, the first day of the year was yestarë, the middle day was loëndë, and the last day was mettarë. These three days belonged to no month and were observed as holidays. This calendar was carried into exile by Elendil and his sons after the Downfall of Númenor, and it became the basis for the calendars of both Arnor and Gondor, where it was maintained for many centuries.

In the later Stewards' Reckoning, a revised calendar introduced by Mardil the Steward of Gondor, the system was further refined. The months were all made equal at thirty days, and two additional days were placed outside the months, one between the third and fourth months and one between the ninth and tenth. The five days outside the months—yestarë, tuilérë, loëndë, yáviérë, and mettarë—were all holidays, and mettarë remained the last day of the year, the final point of the annual cycle. The Hobbits of the Shire, who were conservative in their customs, did not adopt the Stewards' Reckoning but continued to use a form of the older Kings' Reckoning, adapted to their own habits. Their year ended with the Yuledays, which corresponded in function to the Elvish mettarë, marking the close of the year and the beginning of the next.

The significance of Mettarë lies not only in its function as a calendar marker but in what it represents: the completion of a cycle and the promise of renewal. In the long history of Middle-earth, the passing of years was often marked by great events, and the turning of the year was a time of both reflection and hope. The day stood as a reminder that even in the midst of darkness, the cycle of the seasons would continue, and that the end of one year was always the beginning of another.