IN THE SHIRE-RECKONING by Diane Finnis-Robb  

Part One; Chapter Six "Astron"

   By late January of 1602 of the Third Age, in the month which hobbits had come to call “Solmath” or “mudmonth”,¹ there were over seven hundred registered settlers in the Shire; almost all of them were male and more than half of those had families waiting to join them. Business at the Inn of the Four Greenfields, and throughout all of the Bree-land, benefited greatly from that arrangement, for the wives and children, elderly parents and even the livestock of many of the pioneers had quite flooded the little town and its neighbouring villages. There were a few less-ambitious but still enterprising farmers who began to settle the open areas just west of the Hedge-gate preferring to take advantage of the current crowded situation rather than waiting for towns in the Shire to be made ready. Twoody and Alaura had no good way of estimating the numbers of all of the family members who waited to join their husbands, but they suspected that by planting season, in the month which hobbits had traditionally called “Chithing”,² as many as two thousand hobbits might come to live in the Shire.

   For many long centuries of their largely forgotten history hobbits had been a nomadic people who roamed throughout Middle-earth in extended families. It had only been a fairly short time, perhaps five hundred years or so, since their coming into the Bree-land during which they had adopted some of the behavior of the Big Folk in which their males- or, to hobbits, “bucks”- were considered to be the leaders of their households and the principal owners of their businesses. Many of the farming families coming from south or east of Bree-hill were in fact still matrilineal and women and grandmothers still held most of the authority.³ Whether this had something to do with why the bucks who settled in the Shire were so quick to change their own names remains unknown. It was Gondo himself who had asked that only bucks (and the younger and stronger the better to his mind) should do the early work of preparing homes and settlements. But, quite unintentionally, this had caused the first major change in the society of hobbits in the region; for now it was only the bucks who held deeds to their land and it was their names which were placed in THE FIRST FAMILIES OF THE SHIRE. This unusual and very subtle change would cause some unexpected problems for the early settlers of the Shire and their children but, for the moment, it was seen by most of the community as a clerical problem and not something the families themselves were much concerned with.

   But in late January “the townfathers”- which is to say Gondo, Twoody and Alaura- were (in equal parts) excited, anxious and worried about the coming spring. Families would spread into the Shire in a great wave then, and the pioneers there would very likely leave the public improvements of roads and wells and storehouses to begin work on farms and homes of their own. With no provisional government of any kind, nor indeed any wish for one, it remained uncertain that the new Shire-hobbits would continue to work together.

   Many marriages began almost as soon as the Shire was opened in the previous summer. Hobbit males, young or old, who were listed in THE FIRST FAMILIES OF THE SHIRE were suddenly in great demand by daughters and widows and even (former) spinster aunts. Twoody’s older brother Hartnid, who was now solely in charge of the inn, hosted occasions of wedding breakfasts, wedding brunches, wedding lunches, wedding teas, wedding dinners and even wedding picnics nearly every week from what we now call June through February. There were few new births before the springtime of course, but as these new marriages had to be reconciled against the steady changing of names on deeds, Alaura began her companion piece to FIRST FAMILIES, the GENEALOGICAL REGISTRY OF THE SHIRE, so as to avoid confusion for all the families preparing to move west. This work was immediately very popular with all of the Shire-hobbits and Alaura made quite a tidy profit from it, as well as its later editions, throughout her lifetime. The most famous first edition to survive, written in Alaura’s own hand, was found at the Undertowers and is believed to have once belonged to Bilbo Baggins himself.⁴

   In early March of 1602, called “Rethe” or “the rough month” in the local calendars, the many spare and temporary settlements which spread all around Bree-hill were undergoing great changes. Families were beginning to sell off unneeded items like extra clothing, childrens’ toys, winter blankets, small tents and old tarps so as to purchase tools for building, seeds for planting, extra grain for feed and buckets and barrels for carting. Twoody’s brother Childebrand had wisely cornered the market on most of this trade in the months before. While Gondo and Twoody were away petitioning the king, Childy, as he was called, had purchased and rebuilt the old stables near the inn. There he had set up a great shop which he had named "Swiftwalk Purchasers, Purveyors, Packagers and Porters -Things Provided and Things Took." He managed to keep a steady stream of supplies coming into the Bree-land from the east and the north all winter long. Carts bringing these items were driven by outsiders, Big Folk, who Childy had made contact with in anticipation of the move and all the hobbits praised his business sense (even if they did occasionally balk at his prices). Isengrim Tinyfoot was busier than ever (and grumpy as always) with the manufacturing of plowblades, hammerheads, knife edges and other assorted tools for chopping, sawing and tilling. Cedric Bristleberry, the town cooper, saw his busiest season yet manufacturing containers, carts and wheels of all sorts and sizes. It was clear to all that the spring migration was soon to begin and the Shire, and all the lands around it, would not be the same.

*****

   We know from many journals and diaries that the first marriage ceremony of Alaura Fairheart was, despite the spectacle which surrounded it, quite a small affair. In the early morning of the twenty-third day of what we now call the month of March, the first day of the month of “Chithing” in the Breeland calendars of the time, Alaura and her mother, alongside three of her sisters and two of her brothers, walked in procession through the Hedge-gate along the great Road to the Shire. One of those sisters who witnessed this first marriage was Ermenberga Tinyfoot (later Bophin) and the brothers are presumed to be Marcho and Blanco, the famous twins. Alaura’s father Isengrim Tinyfoot was noticeably not a member of the party. Alaura wore a new cream-colored dress and there were bright white flowers in golden nettles adorning her shining black hair.

   They were met outside the town’s gate by Twoody, five of his own brothers and even his father Hincmar at the Crossing Stone. Hincmar was old for such a trip but, as his later letters would tell us, "would walk twice the distance on bald feet before he’d dare miss such an occasion." There at the Crossing the ladies were escorted into a very commodious long cart, driven by Hincmar himself, which had been painted white and decorated with viburnum, lilac and forsythia from the garden of Alaura’s mother, Celedine Tinyfoot. A team of seven small ponies, with Nob as their leader, pulled the cart as the party proceeded westward towards the Shire. Twoody’s brothers rode in a second and much less decorated cart filled with provisions while Twoody himself, his Shire-made walking stick in hand, led the train. Many of the Breelanders watched them go and cheered them on their way, and small children followed for a mile or so in their wake, as has remained a custom among hobbits for some time since.

   They traveled at an easy pace all day and if any conversations occurred between the two friends or their relatives none of it has survived.

   In the late afternoon, with the Sun still high in the west, they set camp just outside of the waymeet. There was a little stream that flowed near to the Road there for fresh water and the washing of tired feet. Twoody’s brothers put up two great pavilion tents by the roadside, one for the bucks and one for the does, and great stores of food and beverage were also put to their dinner table.

   Twoody and his brothers set watches for the night (for it was still the wilderness beyond the Hedge-gate at this time) while the others slept comfortably in their pavilions beside the campfires.

   With dawn coming out behind them on the next day all was quickly packed for travel. Twoody had changed from his traveling clothes of the previous day to a primrose coloured waistcoat, his finest, and a jacket of light grey with silver buttons on the cuffs.

   Just before sunset this party out of the Bree-land was met at the foot of the Stonebows bridge by Gondo and five of his friends from Buckland. The Bucklanders, Eumaeus Sandyman, Horris Bunce, Porro Noakesburrow, Engilbert Bramblethorne and Alaura’s own younger brother Clothair Pudifoot, were cleaned and groomed to their best for the auspicious event. They brought with them roast venison, stored apples, fresh rhubarb, wild mushrooms and mulled wines; some of their best provenders which had been set aside during the winter months in preparation for this day.⁵ A small bower had been made at the first high span of the bridge and it was decorated by Gondo’s friends, who had traveled far in the past week and dared much for the occasion. There were wild lilies from the shadows of the Green Hill country around Sarehole, cattails and bladderwort from South-farthing and the Marish, hackberry from up near Budge and even winter’s holly from as far off as the Bindbole Wood; and in this way all four of the regions of the Shire were to be represented.

   There on the bridge, facing west into the new land and the setting Sun, Alaura Tinyfoot wed Gondolpho Boldbuck before their friends and family. What words were spoken are likewise not recorded, but it is said that Twoody himself tied the green and blue ribbon of holdfast about their hands. It was also said that Alaura would keep that ribbon for many years before passing it on to her own children.

   No wedding certificate from this event exists. Later writing on the subject informs us that the lack of such a document would cause repercussions throughout the lives of this couple and their children for decades, and even generations to come.

   But there is no hobbit who has ever gone on record denying the event did indeed happen. Gondo and Alaura were wed, surrounded by friends and family, at the very gate of the Shire.

   This was the first wedding within the new land and it is from the tradition of this ceremony that weddings held on the first day of the new planting season have become considered good luck to all the Shirefolk over the centuries.

   And so it was that the month of “Chithing”, which means “germinating” to the Breefolk was changed to “Astron” in the Shire-reckoning, a much more reverent and hopeful name; for that word is one which means “rebirth and renewal” just as we still use it today.⁶

end of chapter six

Chapter End Notes

Notes

1)  This is the second month of what would later become the Shire Calendar. Solmath begins on January 22nd of our modern calendar and, considering the mildness of climate in the Shire, it seems to suggest very rainy weather.

2)  This name is from the Bree Calendar and roughly relates to the Old English word for “germinating”.

3)  The idea of smaller and more ancient communities of hobbits as being matrilineal goes back to the stories of Sméagol’s grandmother as well as some theories about the Celts prior to the Iron Age.

4)  The Undertowers, located in the Tower Hills of Westmarch, is where Sam Gamgee’s daughter Elanor lived and also where the famous Red Book of Westmarch was discovered. Whether or not Sam’s younger daughter Goldilocks, the proposed author of this original text, retired there is unknown. But certainly this is where a good many of Bilbo’s belongings, handed down through Frodo to Sam, would have ended up.

5)  These are all regular dishes popular for Celtic weddings that might also be available at that month of the year. The fact that some of them are stored highlights the importance of the custom.

6)  “Astron” is Tolkien’s word originating from the Old English word for “Easter”. It is meant with a very Christian connotation within his work which I hope will be evident to my own readers. But the origin of the word itself is also said to come from a pagan goddess of rebirth. In this way I hope that the Celtic elements of the ceremony are played up over the more modern Christian practices.