In All Uncertain Terms

Our lives are marked by ritual. From your morning cup of coffee (or tea), to Sunday morning church services or your weekly book club, to getting your car’s oil changed every few months, for most of us, these regular, recurring events and actions give us a sense of time and structure. They can be mundane or grand, such as brushing your teeth or the Olympic games, but rituals help us to fight against chaos and bring order to our lives, both as individuals and communities.

Because rituals and routine play such a large, and often unnoticed, role in our lives, curating them is one of the easiest ways to develop or change the culture of yourself as an individual, your family, or your broader community. My husband and I have been married for three years now, and there aren’t a lot of rituals we’ve adopted to make our family distinct, but one of my favorites is our celebration of Hobbit Day.

Hobbit Day takes place on September 22nd each year, though my family typically celebrates the weekend after, for convenience. This date was chosen because it is Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday, and they are the primary protagonists of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, respectively.

The most common ways of celebrating that I have seen or read about are going barefoot for the day (since Hobbits don’t wear shoes), drinking beer, smoking a pipe, having a movie marathon, reading the books, and of course, eating food. We don’t have quite enough food for all of that, so our celebrations are more simple: a meal and one of the movies. Since this is the third year we are celebrating the holiday, we’ll be finishing the (chronologically for the story) first movie trilogy with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

Our first Hobbit Day, our menu consisted of charcuterie items: crackers, cheese, cured meat, jams, nuts, shortbread, lemon curd. Last year was more elaborate: stuffed and roasted cornish game hens and stuffed mini pumpkins. With less time on my hands this year, I’ve chosen to keep our meal simple: sausage potato soup. Hot and spiced apple cider is a staple every year.

Aside from the basic joy of breaking bread together and watching a good movie with my family, there are some deeper reasons I find the ritual of this holiday so important. First, it helps me to remember the small, simple good things in life. The Hobbits are a people content to be overlooked by the broader world, and to focus on their farming and community with one another. In the current digital age, where we are constantly bombarded with information about the endless strife and hatred and war in the world, while also being advertised to and told to buy more and more and more, I find it valuable to remember what happy, peaceful lives are like, and to be reminded that kind, loving people exist, without the need to consume.

“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – J R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

Second, it reminds me that small, ordinary folks are capable of great heroism, and that good can triumph over evil. The story of Lord of the Rings tells of a character who does not choose to be put into the position of power and responsibility in which he ends up, but knows what is right, and, with the help of his loyal and steadfast friends, is able to end terrible injustice in his world. It inspires me that even though I would prefer to remain comfortable in my happy realm of children and church and my mostly-peaceful small town, when and if the situation calls for it, I and my peers can and should step up to fight against injustice, however insurmountable the task may seem.

“‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’” – J R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Celebrating Hobbit day and taking the time to remember the epic fantasy stories from which it originates helps to encourage me both to focus on and take pleasure in my simple, beautiful life, and to be willing to sacrifice that same comfort in pursuit of serving the good of others who aren’t fortunate enough to have the same sort of life.

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Recipes:

Sausage potato soup – https://elavegan.com/vegan-german-potato-soup/ I am not vegan, so I use regular cream and sausage.

Oven roasted cornish hens – https://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2012/08/09/easy-super-juicy-roasted-cornish-hens/

Stuffed mini pumpkins – https://bromabakery.com/mini-wild-rice-stuffed-pumpkins/

Lemon curd – https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a85097/how-to-make-lemon-curd-recipe/#_a5y_p=5192713

Shortbread – https://whatagirleats.com/classic-shortbread/