December 15, 2024

 

Our 15th Yule Calendar entry introduces us to some Yule traditions among the LOTRO hobbit roleplayers on the Laurelin server.

Here, I will explain some less-known Yule traditions among the Laurelin hobbit roleplayers. These might often be referred to in our songs, tales, poems, videos and so on. Here is an article that should at least cover some of the many inside jokes that have formed over the many years!

An Introduction to (Less Known) Hobbit Traditions

by Pycella

 

Many people involved in the making of this Hobbity Yule Calendar are also members of the LOTRO Laurelin hobbit roleplaying community. We have spent many yuletides together, and little by little, traditions and inside jokes start to form. That’s why I wanted to write an article about our Yule traditions and explain them a bit.

 

The Shirriff Season
While some might look forward to the gifts and merry parties, some hobbits wait for the official start of the Shirriff Season. When the season starts, we are all allowed to throw snowballs at Shire bounders! Shirriff Nimelia doesn’t acknowledge the Shirriff Season, but it doesn’t really stop us from folks throwing snowballs at her. The Shirriff Season starts traditionally when the Songburrow Hall Yule tree is raised. There is no reliable sources regarding when this season actually ends.

 

The Pink Snowbeast
During Yuletide, you might see a certain pink snowbeastling appear. This snowbeast seems to love bagpipes, throwing snowballs (especially at Shirriffs), and other merry things. She is often sighted in Songburrow village, the Dragon, and other places where hobbits have their Yule parties. She has also appeared in some of our hobbit yule drawings:

Snowbeasts rule the yule: The 2018 Laurelin hobbit yule video

Bring Unwashed Dishes to Winterhome
There’s a problem at the Songburrow hall: no one is really interested in washing the dishes. We have usually given this duty to the person who comes last to a gathering, but they are sometimes reluctant to accept the dishcloth. Most of the time, they just keep throwing the dirty dishes into the local pond to be cleaned up by the fish, but during Yuletide, they sometimes send the dishes to Winterhome. Winterhome attracts many visitors and also folk who are eager to clean up other people’s mess, spills, including grimy dishes. If you see dishes with markings “S.H.”, you might want to return those to Songburrow Hall.

Pigs Eating Yule Decorations
You might also have heard of the oinker problem at the Songburrow hall. There’s a pig living inside the hall who is quite omnivorous. Our historians have already lost quite a few precious scrolls. Minna the Pig also has an appetite for the Yule decorations. That’s why we try to put them out of reach so she can’t get to them. The mistletoe is so high up that it’s hard to remove it for the rest of the year. So better beware if you want to avoid kisses and your stuff eaten by a pig.

Ode to the Old Bloodtusk
If you have visited the G.L.O.B.E. theatre in Winterhome, you might have heard of the play “Ode to the Old Bloodtusk”. You might also have noticed that they never manage to perform it there. Miss Lina Willowwood got tired of the play being cancelled all the time, so she made it happen herself, with the help of other acting hobbits. You can watch it here:

The Brandy Badgers perform at OAKS, 8 December 2018

 

Yule Bath
Many hobbits clean up there burrows for Yule. There are also some hobbits who think it is good to scrub yourself clean for Yule as well. Many tweens and younger hobbits don’t really agree on this. They are doing their best to avoid the Yule bath. This is where our old nanny, miss Almi, comes in. Throughout the years, she has been doing her best to ensure that everyone gets their bath before Yule. Sometimes she has even set up a bath trap. With her on the prowl, young hobbits need to stay on guard at all times. They have even started forging bath certificates to dodge the bath tub.

 

The Yule Song You Have Never Heard Before
This is a fairly new thing among hobbits. It all started one Yuletide evening at the Green Dragon where I was hosting the weekly hobbit gathering. I wanted to warm up the dancers by a few Yule tunes. I played a classic everyone knows: Jingle Bells. Then I made a little mistake. I played it again, two times in a row! The audience laughed. “Ooh, a Yule song we have never heard before!” I never knew what this little mishap would lead to! Suddenly folks started to perform this “Yule song you have never heard before” over and over again. I suspect they do it just when I am present. So if someone refers to “a Yule song you have never heard before”, it is Jingle Bells, and it will probably be played at least twice.