According to the Tolkien Society, “Tolkien Reading Day is held on the 25th of March each year. It has been organised by the Tolkien Society since 2003 to encourage fans to celebrate and promote the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien by reading favourite passages. We particularly encourage schools, museums and libraries to host their own Tolkien Reading Day events.”
The day was chosen because in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, “The 25th of March is the date of the downfall of the Lord of the Rings (Sauron) and the fall of Barad-dûr.”
What’s most interesting, however, is why Tolkien chose March 25th as the fateful day when Frodo cast the Ring of Power into Mount Doom. It is a very specific date, one that has great symbolism when viewed in light of Tolkien’s devout Catholicism.
In the Catholic Church, this day has always been a day of “doom”; a day of great “fate” or “destiny.” It is a day that traditionally has been assigned very “fateful” events in the salvation of the human race. For example, it was thought to be both the day of the creation of Adam and Eve as well as the day of their disobedience in the Garden. Not only that, but it was believed to be the exact day that Our Lord was crucified on the cross.
There is more.
It was also counted as the day when Lucifer fell from Heaven and when the Israelite people passed through the Red Sea to begin their journey to the promised land. Lastly, it was the day when Isaac was to be offered as a sacrifice by his father Abraham. (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Currently in the Church’s calendar, it is the day when we celebrate the Annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Therefore, this day is when Mary, a simple peasant girl of 14, freely accepted the mission of bearing in her womb the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Putting it all together, today is the day when Adam was created by God from the dust of the earth and when Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven. It is the day when the New Adam came to dwell in the womb of the New Eve. This is the day when “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith” (Saint Irenaeus of Lyon). Thus Mary became the “Untier of Knots.”
On this day the Lamb of God was slain, the Lamb who was foretold when Abraham told Isaac that “God Himself will provide a lamb” for sacrifice. Lastly, Christ is the new Moses who by His blood destroyed our slavery to sin and opened up the way to our true Promised Land, Heaven.
Death was destroyed. Slavery to sin; liberated. Knots were untied. The Ring of Power, defeated.
As you can see, Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien chose March 25th deliberately. His love of divine providence led him to see it in the light of salvation history and how Medieval Christians would assign “fateful” events to a single day. It was only fitting to put the destruction of evil in Middle-Earth on the same day when death was destroyed on the wood of the cross on Mount Calvary, the real-life “Mount Doom.”
Philip Kosloski
Philip Kosloski is the founder of Voyage Comics & Publishing and the writer and creator of the comic book series, Finnian and the Seven Mountains.