Yule: Christmas in Middle-earth | Tolkien Explained

[@NerdoftheRings]

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone! May your pets bring you trays of food as in the Halls of Beorn!

[@dominicadrean2160]

I wonder what Santa Claus does do in Middle Earth when he is not in Narnia😅

[@PeterLinter]

Merry Christmas to you Matt 🎄love your videos and storytelling. Happy holidays from the little town of Sterzing in South Tyrol in the very north of Italy 😊

[@ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣΨΥΡΡΑΣ]

Merry Christmas Matt and a happy new year! I think your channel is the best on KZbin and your videos are excellent!

[@jaanaffi]

Merry Christmas to you, Matt 🎄🎅🏼! And thank you so much for the wonderful videos of this year ❤!

[@KazgarothUsher]

Merry Christmas Matt, enjoy a peaceful Yule. Happy Christmas everybody :)

[@valentinkambushev4968]

Imagine Sauron organizing secret Santa for the Nine.😂

[@rushingjaws7866]

Lol

[@fingersTitan]

Sauron wearing a Christmas jumper and paper hat.

[@dominicadrean2160]

I do have to say he probably somewhat celebrated when he was with the elves crafting the Rings rings of power but who knows what he did there during the holidays😅

[@__Sauron_]

I am :) the witch king is decorating Minas Morgul rn with Gothmog

[@__Sauron_]

@@dominicadrean2160 I gave Celebrimbor and the boys new tools and some lembas bread 👍. It really help speeding up the process of making the rings

[@j-dmachado4349]

Oh my goodness, I never made the connection between Christmas Day/the fellowship leaving Rivendell, and Crucifixion Day/the day the ring was destroyed and Sauron defeated! AMAZING!

[@k-d-n]

Just for those interested, the Scandinavian countries still use the old pronunciation 'Yule' (Danish/Swedish/Norwegian: Jul, Iceland: Jól, Finland: Joulu), and not the Christian pronunciation 'Christmas,' which is otherwise common 😊

[@lovewickelgrensvensby4744]

God Jul!

[@TheCradM]

Thank you for the info, I was about to google Yule, because Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has the Yule Ball. You did it for me. Happy Holidays.

[@user-ti4hj1fm8s]

Makes sense cause tolkien uses inspiration from nordic languages like finnish

[@Gausdave213]

can you give me some examples?@@user-ti4hj1fm8s

[@gameguycommenter]

Might not be a popular topic nowadays but I'd love to see a video about tolkiens faith and how it influenced his writings. Might also be cool to see a video essay about tolkiens life as well

[@ADrunkHistoryofMiddle-earthPod]

Oh hell no it's super popular. I've been going nuts for it recently on my own podcast. If you want a christian view of it, I'd recommend looking at the author Joseph Pearce. He did a series of lectures on the catholic connections in LOTR. Very very very interesting.

[@TheCradM]

This one was short and sweet. It gave me warmth. Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to all of you reading.

[@KonradvonHotzendorf]

Happy Holidays 🇿🇦

[@colinbaldwin313]

Thank you! If there's one Christmas celebration I've always wanted to see, it's Christmas in the Shire. May your holiday be as merry and feastful as any Hobbit gathering!

[@frankbarnwell____]

Happy Yule! And Beorn had my ideal house. But maybe a few hours walk from Bree.

[@hermanmelville3368]

Rhovanion and Bree are the best location on Middle Earth

[@MerkhVision]

The bit with the smart animals preparing the feast in Beorn’s house feels very Narnia-ish! I love it! Big cozy fairy tale vibes.

[@gagecrawley6223]

If Santa were a character in Middle Earth, he’d definitely be a Maiar. Give Anatar the “Lord of Gifts” a run for his money.

[@Laura_Darkspear]

There’s no way my two dogs, a lab and a malamute, would bring food to the table… the plates might arrive but the food would never make it there. 😂🐶🦊 Happy holidays to you! I really enjoy these videos. 🤗🎄

[@BertoBerg]

Same here with my two dogs! They are more cut out for dish cleaning duties 😅

[@Beryllahawk]

Hope your midwinter is also wonderful and full of delight and good friends! I've been fascinated by time-keeping in Middle-Earth for decades, and in fact the idea of "days outside the calendar" was so great that I nicked it for my homebrew TTRPG world. Though I didn't keep it simple, as Tolkien did! Looking forward to the calendar discussions!

[@johnopalko5223]

Extracalendrical days didn't originate with Tolkien. Many calendars had them. For example the _Haab’,_ a part the Maya calendric system, consisted of eighteen months of twenty days each, plus five "nameless days" known as _Wayeb'._ These nameless days were thought to be a dangerous time of the year and the Mayans would not leave their homes or wash their hair lest they fall prey to evil spirits.

[@Beryllahawk]

@@johnopalko5223 That's pretty damn cool! I admit Middle-Earth was the first place I myself learned that such a thing was "allowed" as it were, hehe. I think also the Babylonian or Sumerian calendar had extra days? It seems like everybody who tracked time by lunar cycles needed some extra days each year, which does make sense.

[@Caprabone]

The ancient Egyptians also had 5 days outside of the year (they also had 3 calendars, which is a different mess 😅 solar, lunar , and civic. And no, they did not meet up very well....

[@fingersTitan]

Merry Christmas Matt and family. Merry Christmas to the Nerd community. All the best for 2024 and you hit 1.5 mill by the end of the year.

[@JennaRose957]

Lord of the Rings Online does a good job portraying the Yule festival and in the Vale’s of Anduin they show an instance where your dinning at beorns table with dogs on their hind legs and sheep with platters of food on their backs ❤️

[@OrgusDin]

I was wondering if anyone mentioned how well LotRO portrayed this, it's a really pretty zone too.

[@dlxmarks]

I suggested the animal serving thing to our cats. They pretended not to hear me.

[@jenniferrivera5828]

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Long live Middle-earth!

[@bentilbury2002]

A Merry Christmas and a Pippin New Year!

[@MessianicJewJitsu]

Merry Christmas

[@pendragon2012]

March 25th is also celebrated by many Christians as the date of Jesus' conception so to a Catholic like Tolkien would definitely have had many connotations.

[@repentantsinner7472]

Excellent point. The Catholic Church does not have a definitive position on the actual date of Jesus birth but the feast day celebrating his birth in the Latin Church is Dec. 25 and at least part of picking that date is because it is 9 months from the traditional belief that the Annunciation happened on March 25.

[@patrickw.randolph7824]

Also, it's considered Christ's conception (Annunciation to Mary) because it was the traditional date for Good Friday before Christians started celebrating it other movable date of the Jewish Passover instead. There was an ancient idea of symmetry- being conceived and dying on the same day of the year. So the ring being thrown into Doom on March 25= Good Friday. Makes sense, right?

[@jcons114]

@@repentantsinner7472Actually it does. Scripture and Patristic writings point to Dec 25. It’s a modern, more Protestant idea that it wasn’t, or that it doesn’t matter.

[@KonradvonHotzendorf]

​@@jcons114The protesters against Jesus Church are right We messed up the calendar and probably do have the wrong date It doesn't matter

[@ZiggyMandarr]

Pretty cool. I always wondered if there was meant to be significance of Tolkien deciding the Fellowship set out on our Christmas.

[@StuartistStudio1964]

It's interesting to note that, as a Catholic, Professor Tolkien placed the beginning of the quest on what would be the real life Feast of the Nativity, and the end of the quest on the real world Feast of the Annunciation. The latter, btw, is the actual significance to the data of March 25, as it's a fixed feast, whereas Good Friday is movable.

[@VoiceoftheRings]

Awesome Video! Merry Christmas! Happy Yule in Middle Earth! :D Loved your point about Jesus with the 25th of March!

[@bighand1530]

Aside from Christmas time, Easter time is another great opportunity to try to spread and talk about the gospel. 87 days left till March 25th 2024.

[@ElladanKenet]

Happy Yule! 5 days off, and I started it off this morning by making a very large Second Breakfast, to eat over the next few days.

[@mrlborges]

I'm so looking foward to the video about the different calendars of Arda.

[@EternalKHFan0]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Finland to everyone!

[@ladyalaina42]

To you as well from Tampa. !!❤

[@colinleat8309]

Happy holidays to you Matt and all in the community. Build a cozy fire and enjoy a wonderful Hobbit feast! 🖖😁🤘🇨🇦🕊️

[@OdeeOz]

As LOTR Lore goes, you are definitely the #1 Master of Tolkien knowledge, and fun game play! 👍👍 10⭐ That Moria Stream you share with West & Zollin is a hoot to watch too. 🎁

[@laurasaxon694]

The Dwarves would be well positioned to celebrate Yule, given their basis in Norse mythology. Merry Christmas to you and your channel, Matt.

[@biglawngnome]

This was so sweet, I'll be showing this tomorrow to my parents on Christmas Eve. You do such a great job, always will love you. Merry Christmas to you and your family🎉

[@Beardblade]

Have a great Yule sir

[@Relics_of_Arda]

Merry Christmas!

[@mattwong8465]

Melkor is Santa Claus and Angband is Santa's workshop. Melkor kidnaps elves and forces them to work for him. He lives in the far north. Everyone in Middle Earth has been super naughty.

[@crastinativeapollo1231]

Merry Christmas pal

[@PirateKCaspian]

Let's get a video all about Aldarion and Erendis! I'd love to know what other references there are to then outside of 'Unfinished Tales'

[@johnjohnson7259]

Merry Christmas Matt!!!

[@Debbielein8190]

Happy new year to you too ❤ thanks for the past years and keeping me company before bedtime.

[@OeHomestead]

Happy Festivus!

[@rafakill28tg84]

Merry Christmas. Much love and good health to you and all the loved ones.

[@criticalfocuschannel]

Merry Christmas to my favorite loremaster!

[@michelepurington3227]

Merry Christmas Matt! Many blessings to you and your family.

[@myriadmediamusings]

Sauron really is a true love of middle earth because he was involved in the creation of five golden rings.

[@jovanweismiller7114]

And a Happy Christmas to you!

[@SowerSkys1]

I think a really cool quick video would be the various famous horns of Middle Earth. Like the horn of Helm Hammerhand, Boromir's horn of Gondor, etc.

[@anni.68]

Merry Christmas, Matt, and happy Yuletide!

[@veronica_sm_]

That’s such a cute video🥰 Thanks! Wishing You Merry Christmas ✨

[@free4all3forall]

This has lifted my black breath sickness. Thank you Nerd and merry Christmas 🎄!

[@willemvandebeek]

Merry holidays, Nerds of the Rings! :)

[@dragonofthewest9186]

Merry Yule. And thank you for all your fun content.

[@lukasskywalberg4253]

God Jul (merry xmas) from sweden to all of you in middle earth❤️

[@joaodebrito3711]

Timely 😄 A merry Christmas to all the nerdy fans of Tolkien!

[@cripmccrypto8481]

Mele Kalikimaka everyone! Thanks for another great vid

[@afolsom685]

Great Yuletide greetings 🎄🎄🎄

[@thomaskeane5723]

Thank you! A great gift, a powerful gift! Have a Merry Christmas!🎅🧙‍♂🌲

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

🎄Merry Yule🎄

[@burninlightpresents]

Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for the videos!

[@JacobGiles-k9r]

Merry Christmas.

[@shelbyrennie]

your videos are always a delight. Merry Yule dude!

[@Aleksisguitar]

Hyvää Joulua!

[@lukedibartolo8424]

Christmas eve is tomorrow! Merry Christmas everyone.

[@IanHeins]

Nice work dude thanks

[@TheGeneralGrievous19]

❄ Happy Yule 🎁 & Merry Christmas 🎄 Matt & all the Tolkien enjoyers! 🙌

[@annaroselarsen4218]

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

[@shaunw8637]

Merry Christmas have a great day

[@KimGibsonfiberlover]

Nicely done!

[@NekeLC2480]

Merry Christmas! And a happy New Year!

[@bighand1530]

3 days left till 2024.

[@user-uq7io2os3r]

Many thanks for great video 👍 Alll Best Christmas wishes to you, your whole team and families 👍

[@Darkgeran7]

You saying bah bah bah was hilarious happy holidays my friend

[@logansfury]

Merry Christmas everyone!

[@moonflowerfaeriee]

Merry Christmas from Lothlorien :)

[@erikbender1967]

Merry Christmas y'all!

[@valentinkambushev4968]

5:59 I wish the three adorable gluttons me and my family call dogs would do this.

[@100dfrost]

All of the blessings you wished back to you x 3.

[@zarathustra007]

great piece of content

[@agentspaniel4428]

Frodo: on the first day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me one ring to rule them all Gandalf: on the second day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me two wizard staffs Frodo: and and one ring to rule them all Galadriel: on the third day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Isildur: on the fourth day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Brûz: on the fifth day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Aragorn: one sixth day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me six broken swords Brûz: five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Dúrin: on the seventh day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me seven dwarven rings Aragorn: six broken swords Brûz: five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Shelob: (translation unavailable) Dúrin: seven dwarven rings Aragorn: six broken swords Brûz: five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all The witch king: on the nineth day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me nine rings between us Shelob: (translation unavailable) Dúrin: seven dwarven rings Aragorn: six broken swords Brûz: five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Talion: on the tenth day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me ten years of torture The witch king: nine rings between us Shelob: (translation unavailable) Dúrin: seven dwarven rings Aragorn: six broken swords Brûz: five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Glorfinel: on the eleventh day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me eleven extra respawns Talion: ten years of torture The witch king: nine rings between us Shelob: (translation unavailable) Dúrin: seven dwarven rings Aragorn: six broken swords Brûz: five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all Me: on the twelfth day of Christmas the dark lord gave to me twelve irrelevant plot points Glorfinel: eleven extra respawns Talion: ten years of torture The witch king: nine rings between us Shelob: (translation unavailable) Dúrin: seven dwarven rings Aragorn: six broken swords Brûz: five giant forts Isildur: four of his fingers Galadriel: three rings for elves Gandalf: two wizard staffs Frodo: and one ring to rule them all

[@qwertyTRiG]

Almost every northern culture has a midwinter festival, just because we need one, I think.

[@deenzmartin6695]

this channel rules

[@jcons114]

Funny how the Fellowship left Rivendell on Christmas and the ring was destroyed on the Annunciation. Catholic Tolkien strikes again.

[@RosesandLace]

March 25 is the Feast of the Annunciation - the day of His Incarnation. It's connection with Easter is far more tenuous.

[@benjaminredmond3915]

When are going to do a full description of the silmarillion that would awesome with your map descriptions and trees.

[@gregorykollarus8190]

Love ur vids ty

[@Ymir417]

Happy yule everybody 😄

[@djeniiala]

Merry Yule, Blessed be

[@TheHoneyBadger-yh5vj]

May God bless you and your work sir. 💜💜💜🤗🤗🤗😇😇😇💜💜💜

[@BrotherLaymanPaul]

Ring destroyed on the same date as the Annunciation to the Virgin. Nice move, Professor T 😏

[@jacobmatteson9166]

YULE!!! Soldier boy tell ‘em.. y’all I gotta new dance for y’all called the soldier boy..

[@TheGeekMonster]

Merry Christmas and Happy Yule to all!

[@phoule76]

Yule regret not attending Beorn's shindig.

[@thamuffinman6911]

Getting the kids together for this one

[@stormstrider1990]

I'd imagine the dwarves also celebrated Yule, given their origins in Norse mythology.

[@dominicadrean2160]

Here's an interesting question how different do you think the first stage would have been if feanor survived ( and also do you believe he could have made his own rings of power if he lived)

[@valentinkambushev4968]

The Silmarillion would have been a very annoying book.

[@myriadmediamusings]

If Feanor had lived I think the Noldor probably wouldve reached a faster and tragic end. Aside from all the forces he woulda thrown away trying to assault Angband, he likely woulda gotten into a tussle with Fingolfin's group when they arrived.

[@scoobysnacker1999]

Feanor most certainly COULD make a Ring of Power, but it's questionable whether it would surpass the One Ring. The reasoning for this: Feanor was accounted as perhaps the second greatest craftsman, behind Aule himself. He was able to make the Silmarils, which captured the essence of the light of the Two Trees. Aule probably could have, too... but he didn't at the time. So when the Trees were dying, and the Valar needed their light to save them, the Silmarils were the only source. Nothing Aule had made could be used to fix them, only the Silmarils. The Rings of Power were crafted to hold and focus ... power. Just as the Simarils were, but not as beautiful, and rather than the power of Light, they harnessed Water, Earth and Fire (and other lesser elemental powers). Those are more diffuse and widespread powers, not as potent. And Sauron crafted One to rule them, and in order to do so, he had to dump a large part of his own power into it. That's the quandary with Feanor making one; his skill matched Sauron's, possibly surpassed it (although Sauron was no slouch, as he was originally high in Aule's service and extremely skilled himself- surpassing any of the other Elves we know of); but Feanor's own innate power does not match Sauron's. So Feanor maybe could make a better BASE Ring, but lacked the resources to level it up past Sauron's. Sauron's Ring would be stronger due to the brute force factor. As for how the First Age would have went had Feanor survived- likely terrible. The Oath would have driven him relentlessly, so there would be no peace between his faction and the other Noldor (left behind to cross the Helcaraxe) , and more open opposition from Thingol and Doriath. There was already strife on those fronts, and that was with his sons, who the other parties could somewhat forgive- they were "merely" the followers of Feanor, and not him directly. Feanor would not make peace, as he had already scorned the Valar, what were other Elves to him? We saw that with the Teleri and Fingolfin's people, he simply cared not. And in any case, he couldn't forsake the Oath anyway. So the Elven Kingdoms would have been more sundered, and probably more hostile to each other.

[@DanielFlores-lb6hy]

I like the idea for middle-earth holidays for new generation and new life.🙂‍↕️👍🏻

[@josephippolito1402]

The Hobbits in the Shire like Yuletide a lot. But Saruman, who lived in the tower of Orthanc, did not

[@solinvictus6424]

Merry Yuletide and Hail Victory!!

[@LaQuient]

What's the Music starting at 1:50? Doesn anyone know?

[@rushingjaws7866]

Cool

[@Flyboy245]

Very cool. I was curious as to how this would pan out, because there’s obviously no Christianity or Santa for there to be a Christmas in middle earth

[@barbarossarotbart]

It is sad, that Peter Jackson butchered the whole beautiful atmosphere of that feast at Beorn's home in the movie adaptation. It would have been marvelous if he had followed the novel closely.

[@treyowen9213]

Merry Christmas in Middle Earth!!!

[@adventureswithsmiles6315]

What if LOTR vs Harry Potter world Characters fought in an Epic Battle, who would win. I hope a lot of people see this comment to discuss it, first one I got is who win in fight between Balrog and Voldermort? I would love if you did a series on this.

[@adventureswithsmiles6315]

I got it would be a tough battle. it would be close I got the Balrog. Voldermort can't use his spells against killing him because this is a Demon God, a lot of his attacks would successful spells except a death spell, and injure the Balrog a lot. Balrog's offensive it would be hard from The One disappearing and appearing all the time, eventually it would figure out his movement and slice V in half with his whip.

[@WhataboutBingo]

Jolly good