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The Oxford medievalist Eleanor Parker noticed that each year’s tweets about the Barrow-wight fall on Michaelmas Eve, the day on which the Welsh believed that lights can be seen glowing in ancient barrows, and the ghosts of warriors awaken.
Probably best to stay away from standing stones and burial mounds tonight…
After becoming separated in the fog, and straying ever nearer the standing stones and mounds, all four hobbits are taken by a Barrow-wight.
If Frodo had known his Welsh folklore, he’d have stayed away from barrow-mounds on Michaelmas Eve.
The four hobbits become separated in the fog and stray ever nearer the standing stones. Frodo reaches a hilltop beneath the stars. A cold wind blows from the east, a dark figure towers over him, and he is taken by a Barrow-wight.
Her next tweet cites a 1909 book on Welsh folklore:
Michaelmas Day was formerly regarded with suspicion in Wales. It was credited with uncanny power. There was an old superstition that on this night the Cistfaens, or warriors’ graves, in all parts of the Principality were illuminated by spectral lights, and it was very unlucky to walk near those places on Michaelmas Eve or Night; for on those two occasions the ghosts of ancient warmen were engaged in deadly fray around their lonely resting-places.
— Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales by Marie Trevelyan, page 253.
You can read more from this volume of Welsh folklore on Google Books.
We can assign two more events to September 27–28 in addition to the hobbit adventures from the chapters ‘In the House of Tom Bombadil’ and ‘Fog on the Barrow-Downs’, thanks to entries in the Tale of Years that follow Gandalf’s progress north:
- Gandalf crosses Greyflood. Second night with Bombadil.
- The Hobbits captured by a Barrow-wight. Gandalf reaches Sarn Ford.
For the details and times of day of Gandalf’s ride, we can provisionally adopt the timeline that Tolkien computed in Marquette MSS 4/2/33, which is quoted in the Hammond and Scull note for pages 262–3. There, Tolkien tallies up the miles Gandalf traveled and concludes that he would ‘Cross Greyflood (Tharbad) 1 a.m. 27 [September]’ and ‘reach Sarn Ford at about 2 a.m. 28 [September].’
In the still hour after midnight and under the cover of darkness, Gandalf and Shadowfax cross the river Greyflood at the ford of Tharbad. They are now only two days south of Hobbiton.
It’s pouring rain. Tom says this is Goldberry’s washing day, so the hobbits stay indoors and listen for hours to his lore—which seems not only to embrace every beast and bird and tree, but to be unimaginably ancient. ‘Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn.’
After supper, Tom Bombadil asks to see the Ring. Frodo is startled that Tom can wear it without becoming invisible.
Tom advises the hobbits to travel north tomorrow so as to pass the Barrow-downs and reach the Road. They sleep for a second night safe under his roof.
In the small hours of his fifth day of riding, Gandalf reaches Sarn Ford on the southern border of the Shire. He will soon learn from Rangers about the Nazgûl that are searching the Shire—but must rest with Shadowfax before tackling the hundred remaining miles to Hobbiton.
Tom Bombadil waves his old battered hat as Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin ride away up the slope behind his house. They say farewell to Goldberry when they reach the ridge, then ride their ponies north into the hills and hollows between the Barrow-downs and the Forest.
The four hobbits reach a hilltop and rest. To the north they see the hills ending, and might even see the trees along the Road. To the east are the Barrow-downs, topped by ancient burial mounds.
After having lunch against the cool east side of a standing-stone, they fall asleep.
The hobbits wake. They are still on the hilltop where they had lunch, but now the sun is setting into a heavy fog. They ride north for the Road, putting on their cloaks and hoods against the wet and cold.
The four hobbits become separated in the fog and stray ever nearer the standing stones. Frodo reaches a hilltop beneath the stars. A cold wind blows from the east, a dark figure towers over him, and he is taken by a Barrow-wight.
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