Hobbiton, near Matamata, North Island, New Zealand

© 500px Asia/Getty Image

Happy Hobbit Day!

It’s Hobbit Day, marking the anniversary of the 'long-expected party' which sets in motion the events of the Lord of the Rings books. Today, 22 September, is the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, the protagonists of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings respectively.

Fans of the film adaptations of those stories will recognise today’s image as Hobbiton in the Shire (although it is actually a set built in the countryside near Matamata on New Zealand's North Island.) You can celebrate Hobbit Day by walking around barefoot all day and having seven meals like a hobbit, reading one of the books or watching any or all of the six films in the series. It would be only fitting this year, as the stories chronicle a mythological struggle between darkness and light and today is the autumnal equinox.