September 22, S.R. 1534 by Dreamflower

[dreamflower]

B2MeM Challenge: From indy1776: Family traditions, from the silly to the serious. Are the children read to at bedtime every night or do they exchange silly gifts on birthdays/Yule/etc. or do they light candles for deceased family on a certain day of the year? Maybe silly games like “pinch punch first of the month” or do they have a game night once a week? Or are there traditions for spotting the first spring flower, firefly, or something of that nature?
Something, anything about family traditions
Format: Drabble
Genre: Family,
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Characters: Frodo Gardner, Harding of the Hill
Pairings: n/a
Creators' Notes (optional): Why was the "Gardner" surname dropped after only two generations? I've speculated on that for a while. Perhaps Harding was a bit more socially ambitious than was usual in the family, and wanted to put certain bits of family history behind him.
Summary: For three generations the Toast on September 22 has taken place in Bag End. Will it continue to a fourth?


September 22, S.R. 1534

"To the byrdings, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, who sailed away eighty years ago, and to my father Samwise, who joined them nineteen years ago. We do not know their fate but we can hope they found what they were looking for across the Sundering Sea." Frodo Gardner held his glass high and drained it.

Harding dutifully drank, blushing with embarrassment. He'd only been a child when his great-grandfather had left. Now he glanced over at his betrothed. Lila looked amused; her father looked disgusted.

He'd put an end to this particular family tradition, once he was Master of the Hill.

Comments

[baranduin.livejournal.com]

That's a dark take. I like it.

[dreamflower]

I occasionally do dark, though it's not what I'd originally intended. I'd planned something cute and fluffy with this prompt, but I was on the Gamgee family tree doing some math, and this just came to me.

[kayleelupin.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. Poor Gardners :( It's a pity Harding didn't feel like he had to respect this particular tradition, though I guess I can see why it would seem silly to him.

[dreamflower]

Yes, after so many years, it had to come to seem a little silly to the younger generations; while grandparents and even great-grandparents are still around, the original generation of the Travellers is long gone.

[kayleelupin.livejournal.com]

Quick question - isn't 1501 Harding's birthyear? How old is he meant to be in this tale? (I mislaid my hardback copy of LOTR, so I had to check it on my Google Play ebook copy)

[dreamflower]

ACK! It's meant to be 1534, the year he comes of age! I did the math and everything, and then typed it out wrong! *scurries to edit*

THANK YOU!!!

[kayleelupin.livejournal.com]

*Hugs!!* You're welcome!!! <3

[hhimring]

I suppose it could not have continued forever, that tradition.
But it's a sad end to the Toast, nevertheless.
I can't help wishing Harding had been a little braver!

[dreamflower]

I'm imagining that somehow the gardening talent has skipped him over, and he feels embarrassed by his gardening roots. He's very taken with the hobbit notions of propriety, and sees himself as a step above his ancestors.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

I loved your bittersweet drabble. It has all the charm of the Hobbits but it's sad when traditions have to die.

[dreamflower]

Yes, it is sad. But once that generation was gone, there was not much to hold the younger ones to it if they weren't interested.

I like to think perhaps Harding had younger brothers and sisters who fit better into the family mold left by Sam, though.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

It's true. Old traditions sometimes die hard but you have to move on, don't you?

I like to think perhaps Harding had younger brothers and sisters who fit better into the family mold left by Sam, though.

Yes, and this is worth exploring. :)

[starbrow.livejournal.com]

This was really interesting - I'd honestly never even considered the surname change before, or what might have prompted it. Really shows the almost-tragedy of victory - I recall Aragorn grousing about how he gets insulted by the very folk he keeps safe, and how Frodo ends up having little honour on his return to the Shire.

[dreamflower]

I'd noticed it long ago, when I was researching hobbit surnames, and learned that there were very few "occupation names" among them. But while doing a bit of math on the family tree yesterday, this just struck me.

I don't the average hobbit ever understood what Frodo did, although I think his role was probably appreciated by the Tooks, Brandybucks and Gamgees of that first generation (and it doesn't appear that there were anymore Bagginses; the last Baggins appears to have been Ponto's daughter Angelica). But once those who had known the Travellers personally were no more, Frodo's role would have been completely forgotten except for the rare scholar who read the Red Book.

[lbilover.livejournal.com]

This is so sad, but somehow inevitable, given how hobbits reacted to Frodo continuing the tradition of celebrating his and Bilbo's birthdays.

[dreamflower]

*nods* And those were hobbits who'd personally known Bilbo. The further on the generations went, the less it would be appreciated by those who had no such knowledge.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

That works really well - there is often one who feels he is better than those who went before. He clearly wants any relationship to those 'odd' people forgotten! Probably any reminder that this wonderful home hasn't been in his family for all that long...

I kind of want Legolas to drop by to ask if there are any messages he might take when he goes, just in case!

[dreamflower]

*grin* That would be fun, but it will be about forty years before that might happen.

You are right that he wants to think himself better than his family's beginnings. He's ready to think of himself as "of the Hill" rather than a common "Gardner" or even "Gamgee".

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Ouch, that stings.

[dreamflower]

I know. But it was bound to happen sooner or later.

[febobe.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. You have a gift for writing situations that would burn me up so much I couldn't write them without making the Hill cave in and kill them or somesuch. It's beautifully written. It just makes me want to cry!

Nice work, though!

-Febobe :)

[dreamflower]

It's probably not something I could write a longer story about, but I can explore a little in a drabble.

Thank you very much dear!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

What a powerful drabble. It is sad but very true to life.

[dreamflower]

"Sad but true to life"

Unfortunately yes. The younger generations lose respect for the older. The good thing is that somewhere along the line another younger generation will rediscover the past.

What goes around comes around.

[the-wavesinger.livejournal.com]

Harding is quite pitiful, for some reason, in a strange kind of way (and that starts a train of thought about corruption and the clash between tradition and modernization—damned if you do, damned if you don’t). Although Lila doesn’t seem that bad. Her father, though, I despise...

Also, I’m curious as to what byrdings means. (Because I’m being lazy today and can’t be bothered to Google it.)

[dreamflower]

He is pitiful, fearing the mockery of his peers, and the unconventionality represented by his family, as well as the fact that his roots are not gentry but working class.

Byrdings is a word Tolkien made up to indicate the person whose birthday it is. It comes from Letters, #214 in which Tolkien responds to a fan's question about hobbit gift-giving customs. He reveals a lot about hobbit society, laws and culture, and a few little side stories about hobbits (such as the mystery of the death of Lalia, widow of Fortinbras II, and the reason for the ambitions of Otho Sackville-Baggins). It's the same letter that gives us the word faunt for a hobbit toddler.

[the-wavesinger.livejournal.com]

Is it weird if I now want to hug Harding and pat him on the back? Thank you for the definition, it sounds interesting!

[ysilme]

An excellent take on how quickly things can change! It makes all the difference when somebody, who coloured the feelings or ideas of others, no longer is there, doesn't it?

[dreamflower]

Exactly. Once all the Travellers were gone, and those who knew them personally, there were no more who could understand.

[independence1776]

Ouch. Completely understandable, but painful.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Ouch--well done. Harding is a more typical hobbit than the Travellers and their friends with his dislike of untypical history and love of propriety. Tolkien gets us to love unhobbity/queer hobbits, which makes me wonder, do I love hobbits, or just unhobbity/queer hobbits?