An Elvish name meaning simply 'last day', Mettarë was the traditional last day of the year in the calendars of Elves and Men. Elvish calendars were divided into six long seasons, with a number of intercalary days inserted so that the calendar's year would match that of the Sun. Mettarë was one of these additional days, following on from the season of Coirë, or early spring. (The Elves' calendars were arranged so that the year began and ended in spring, and thus their 'last day' fell on modern 27 March.)
The calendars of Men replaced the Elves' six seasons with a series of twelve astar or months, but they retained the idea of incorporating individual days, outside any formal month, and Mettarë was among these. Unlike those of the Elves, the calendars of Men were aligned to begin and end at midwinter. So, in the calendars of the Númenóreans and their descendants, the winter holiday of Mettarë fell on modern 21 December. It then led on to Yestarë, the 'first day' of the following year, at least until the end of the Third Age.1
Even in the Shire Calendar of the Hobbits, this distinct day at the end of the year was preserved, though the Shire-folk abandoned the old Elvish name for one of their own. In their calendar, the last day of one year and the first of the next were known collectively as 'Yuledays', and their equivalent of Mettarë, the last day of the year.2
Notes
1 |
After the War of the Ring, a new calendar was introduced that was aligned to the date of the destruction of the One Ring. That new system saw the year begin on 25 March by the Shire Calendar (or 17 March on a modern calendar).
Presumably this means that Mettarë would now fall on the day before this (Shire 24 March, or modern 16 March). The exact workings of this part of the New Reckoning are a little vague, except that the year began with the month of Víressë (or April). We might presume from this that the previous year ended with the month of Súlimë (March), followed by Mettarë, and then the new year would begin with the day of Yestarë leading into Víressë. This all seems to make sense, but the workings of the new calendar are not laid out to quite this level of detail, so we cannot be absolutely sure that the day of Mettarë survived into the new system.
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2 |
According to the drafts of Appendix D to The Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits would sometimes call this date 'Old Year's Day' (as opposed to 'New Year's Day' which directly followed). This term is not included in the published version of the appendix, but it does neatly summarise the role of 1 Yule (and Mettarë) in the calendars of Middle-earth. |
See also...
Coirë, Echuir, Girithron, King’s Reckoning, Middle-days, New Reckoning, New Year, Reckoning of Rivendell, Ringarë, Stewards’ Reckoning, Yáviérë
Indexes:
About this entry:
- Updated 17 April 2026
- This entry is complete
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