In “From the Book” Goldenstar discusses the significance of in-game people, places and things that were part of the book.

The Shire folks are so self-contained and feel separated from the rest of Middle Earth that they even have their own calendar that differs from the rest of the world.

The first year of the Shire Reckoning (SR) starts when the Shire was founded by Marcho and Blanco which was year 1601 of the Third Age. Basically the Shire Reckoning is figured by subtracting 1600 from the Third Age year. When Middle Earth declared the Third Age over and started at year one of the Fourth Age, the Hobbits didn’t see any reason to change their calendar and considered it the next year or year 1421 SR.

The Shire year was separated into 12 months each with 30 days that follow the lunar cycle. Five additional days were added for their holidays so their calendar is the typical 365 days in a year. There is also a leap day (called Overlithe) observed every four years.