Cormarë

Cormarë, also known as Ringday, is a festival of the New Reckoning established in the restored Kingdom following the War of the Ring. It commemorates the fall of Sauron and the deeds of the Ring-bearers, and was instituted specifically in honor of Frodo Baggins. The festival falls on Yavannië 30, which corresponds to September 22 old style, the date of Frodo's birthday, and it serves as the leap-year adjustment by being doubled in such years. Its name derives from the Ring Verse, which describes the One Ring's power to rule, find, and bind all other rings in darkness, and it marks the transition from the Third Age to the Fourth Age in the calendar of the Reunited Kingdom.

Origins and Establishment

The New Reckoning was begun in the restored Kingdom in T.A. 3019, representing a return to the Kings' Reckoning adapted to fit a spring-beginning as in the Eldarin loa. In this new system, the year began on March 25 old style, in commemoration of the fall of Sauron and the deeds of the Ring-bearers. The months retained their former names, beginning now with Víresse (April), but referred to periods beginning generally five days earlier than previously. All the months had 30 days. There were 3 Enderi or Middle-days, of which the second was called Loëndë, between Yavannië (September) and Narquelië (October), corresponding with September 23, 24, 25 old style. In honor of Frodo, Yavannië 30, which corresponded with former September 22, his birthday, was made a festival, and the leap-year was provided for by doubling this feast, called Cormarë or Ringday.

The Ring Verse and the Festival's Name

The name Cormarë, meaning Ringday, is directly tied to the Ring Verse, which is the inscription on the One Ring and the central prophecy of the entire narrative. The verse reads: "Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie." The festival's name thus recalls the very object whose destruction it celebrates, marking the moment when the One Ring's power to bind all others was broken forever.

The Festival's Place in the Calendar

Cormarë occupies a unique position in the New Reckoning as both a commemorative feast and a calendrical mechanism. As the leap-year adjustment, it is doubled in leap years, ensuring the calendar remains aligned with the seasons. This dual function makes it both a sacred day of remembrance and a practical tool of timekeeping. The festival's placement on Frodo's birthday, September 22, links the personal history of the Ring-bearer to the cosmic history of the Ring's destruction, making the celebration of an individual life coincide with the commemoration of a world-changing event.

The Festival's Significance in the Transition of Ages

The Fourth Age was held to have begun with the departure of Master Elrond, which took place in September 3021; but for purposes of record in the Kingdom, Fourth Age 1 was the year that began according to the New Reckoning in March 25, 3021, old style. This reckoning was in the course of the reign of King Elessar adopted in all his lands except the Shire, where the old calendar was retained and Shire Reckoning was continued. Fourth Age 1 was thus called 1422; and in so far as the Hobbits took any account of the change of Age, they maintained that it began with 2 Yule 1422, and not in the previous March. Cormarë thus stands as a marker of the new era, a festival that exists only in the New Reckoning and that would be observed in the lands of the Reunited Kingdom but not in the Shire, which retained its own calendar and its own reckoning of time.

The Festival's Thematic Resonance

The establishment of Cormarë reflects the broader themes of memory, commemoration, and the passage of time that run throughout the narrative. The festival transforms a personal birthday into a public holiday, merging the private grief and triumph of Frodo Baggins with the collective memory of the War of the Ring. The doubling of the feast in leap years suggests an attempt to hold onto a moment of significance, to make the commemoration recur with even greater emphasis when the calendar demands adjustment. Yet the festival's absence from the Shire's calendar also underscores the Hobbits' separation from the larger events of the Age, their preference for their own traditions and their own reckoning of time, even as the Reunited Kingdom adopts the New Reckoning throughout its lands. Cormarë thus stands as a testament to the enduring power of the Ring's story, a day set aside to remember the binding and the breaking, the darkness and the light.