Hobbit Day is a day to celebrate all things hobbit, and it is celebrated on September 22nd. This date was chosen because it is the birthday of two of J.R.R. Tolkiens main characters, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. The American Tolkien Society first proclaimed Hobbit Day and Tolkien Week in 1978, and it defines Hobbit Day as September 22nd and Tolkien Week as the calendar week containing that day. However, due to the discrepancies between the fictional Shire calendar and the Gregorian calendar, there is some debate about when to celebrate Hobbit Day, since the actual birthday would be between September 12th and 14th in the Gregorian calendar, as explained in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings.
Hobbit Day is celebrated in various ways, such as hosting parties and feasts like the ones held in the books, going barefoot in honor of the hobbits who dont wear shoes, attending marathon viewing sessions of the movie version of the books, and participating in Hobbit and LOTR quizzes. Some Tolkien fans celebrate by emulating the hobbits parties, while others simply go barefoot in honor of the hobbits. Some schools and libraries use this as an opportunity to pique interest in Tolkiens work by putting up displays and hosting events. Celebrating Hobbit Day is a fun opportunity for people around the world to celebrate two of the most famous fictional characters, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, and to pay homage to J.R.R. Tolkiens popular set of books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
