On what date is Bilbo Baggins’s birthday celebrated in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fiction?

Bilbo Baggins’s birthday in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fiction is 22 September.

Bilbo was born on 22 September T.A. 2890, according to the chronology of Middle-earth. His birthday is also shared by Frodo Baggins, who was born on 22 September T.A. 2968. This shared date gives the day special importance in the stories and helps explain why Tolkien’s narrative repeatedly returns to it.

Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday party opens The Fellowship of the Ring. The celebration is held in Hobbiton and becomes the occasion for Bilbo’s public farewell before he leaves the Shire. Frodo’s birthday is also marked at the same party, although Bilbo is the event’s central figure.

Readers sometimes confuse the date with the publication date of The Hobbit, which appeared on 21 September 1937. The birthday is a fictional calendar date, while the publication date belongs to the real world.