Celebrating Yule in the Shire
Events, calendars, videos and parties! Welcome aboard the hobbity Yule celebration!
Yule is an important holiday in the Shire, and us hobbit roleplayers on Laurelin have certainly embraced that fact. The month of December is usually a flurry of in-game hobbit events and out-of-game initiatives celebrating Yule, and we don’t really wrap up until we go wassailing in the Shire orchards in mid-January.
Besides being lots of fun, all these activities also serve the purpose of bringing people together in the Yuletide. Many LOTRO players feel lonely during the holidays, for various reasons. Some are alone in real-life. Others struggle with illness, making it hard to leave their homes. Some have lost someone near and dear recently. We suspect the upcoming Yule won’t be easy either, due to social distancing and measures related to the pandemic.
Thus, we hope that the events listed below will help bring some cheer during the coming Yuletide. Welcome along!
With all our best wishes for the coming yuletide
The Grand Order hobbits
In-game LOTRO hobbit events
This list shows the currently-planned hobbit Yule events on Laurelin this year. Not all details are settled yet, but we’ll update this post in the coming weeks. You’ll also find the most up-to-date details in the calendar on this page or in the Bramblebury Gazette, our hobbit newspaper.
Note that some events are listed as “hobbit events”. This is mostly for lore reasons, given that men and elves were rare sights in the Shire in Tolkien’s books. Everyone is welcome along, though, as long as they roll up a hobbit character. All events start at 7:30PM UK time (2:30PM servertime), unless otherwise stated.
- Sun Nov 29: The hobbit Yule video 1st meetup, Forochel (hobbit event)
- Tue Dec 8: The hobbit Yule video 2nd meetup, Songburrow, Shire homesteads (hobbit event)
- Sun Dec 13: Songburrow Yule Tree Raising, Songburrow, Shire homesteads
- Mon + Tue Dec 14-15, Michel Delving Yule market
- Fri Dec 18: Green Dragon Foreyule party, Bywater (hobbit event + dwarves welcome)
- Sat Dec 19: December OAKS concert, Oldfurlong, Shire homesteads at 8PM UK / 3PM servertime
- Mon Dec 21: The Brandy Badgers Yule rehearsal, Michel Delving
- Fri Dec 25: Green Dragon Yule party, Bywater (hobbit event + dwarves welcome)
- Sun Dec 27: Winterhome wassailing, Winterhome
- Fri Jan 1: Grand new year’s snowball fight: Winterhome
- Sat Jan 2: Plough and Stars new year’s party, Brockenborings (hobbit event + dwarves welcome)
- Mid-January: Shire Wassail, TBC
In addition, there are lots of regular events, like Green Dragon Friday, the Michel Delving biweekly hobbit market and the Brandy Badgers biweekly rehearsals. Just check the calendar regularly for more details.
The Yule video and the Yule calendar
Ever since 2012, I have made Yule videos with the Laurelin hobbits. They started as relatively simple affairs mostly within the Grand Order kinship, but from 2014 onwards we invited the wide Laurelin hobbit community along.
The Yule video is made by splicing together footage from two meetups in late November/early December, usually telling short tales related to hobbit yule celebrations and traditions. Most important, though, is to have good fun together making them. You can see all previous videos in the playlist below. This year, the Yule video footage is shot on Sunday November 29 in Forochel and in the Shire homesteads on Tuesday December 8. I hope you will take part.
Playlist of previous hobbit Yule videos
The Yule video is always released in the morning on December 24. In recent years, the video has been the last entry in Pycella’s hobbity yule calendar, an online “advent calendar” with entries of wide hobbit interest like recipes, poetry, old traditions, games, videos etc.
A new calendar is planned this year, starting Tuesday December 1. It is still possible send in entries if yer would like to contribute. Not least related to this year’s “community contribution”, where LOTRO players all over are invited to send in pictures for a short video. This year, Pycella wants pictures of the Yule cards you will send or have received. Send pictures to her by December 15 to take part!
So, check out the calendar here and see how yer can contribute!
The Green Dragon virtual yule party
This year, we will try something new too. Given that recent times have been challenging and many may face a lonely Yule locked up in their homes, Pycella invites everyone to a virtual Green Dragon yule party on Discord. And this party won’t be just for hobbits, but for everyone interested in LOTRO and/or Tolkien in general.
The Discord will be a place for like-minded folks to meet up and spend time together on Yule Eve and Yule Day (December 24th and 25th). There will be different channels (or “rooms”) for different topics: folks can share their yule music, pictures of their yule foods, share yule videos or stories, maybe even riddles… or just chat with the others. There will also be a voice channel available. The link to the Discord server will appear here on lostmathom.com and in the hobbit yule calendar on December 24th in the morning (EU hours).
During those two days, Pycella will waitress at the Dragon, while many of us others will be there as well. Expect a friendly and welcoming hobbity atmosphere where you can take part as much as your like – you can just sit back and follow the channels, or chatter as much as your heart desires!
