Do you hang seasonal art in your home to keep your dwelling in tune with the round of the year? It's a lovely, mindful custom and perhaps you have room to invite some hobbits. You'll find a Who's-Who of the Cotton-Gamgee families if you spend time with this painting.
Though we mainly see Bag End as a quiet, bachelor's residence which isn't entirely prepared for "unexpected" parties, the fine hobbit hole under The Hill became a different place in Sam Gamgee's day. It would have had to accommodate the birthday parties of Master Samwise and Mistress Rose and their 13 children, and I expect it would have become one of the warmest spots in the Shire for the keeping of Yule - the hobbits' winter celebration.
The year is 1427, and starting in the lower left corner of this piece, we see six-year-old Elanor and four-year-old Frodo playing a miniature game of ninepins with their young uncle Nibs, who is Rose Cotton-Gamgee's brother. Meanwhile, little Rosie is confiding something to the Gaffer about her new stuffed rabbit, while Farmer Cotton smokes his pipe and Mrs. Cotton skillfully rocks a happy baby Merry to sleep amid all the excitement. These are all the children Sam and Rose have at this point.
Behind the table where the elders relax, Rose's brothers provide music for the dance. Nick plays a tuneful whistle to the accompaniment of Jolly's lute. Behind them, old friends Fredegar Bolger and Folco Boffin look on in amusement as Fredegar's sister, Estella, dances a spirited Springle-ring with her dear Meriadoc Brandybuck, who towers above the company.
At the center of the scene, Sam and Rosie dance joyfully while one of the Cottons' farm dogs leaps about with them. This is the same white dog you can see in "When Sam Spoke to Rosie at Cotton's Farm", in keeping with the knowledge we have that hobbits like Farmer Maggot had dogs. I have imagined that Rosie brought her favorite dog with her from home when she wed.
Moving to the back of the hall, we see Farmer Cotton's younger brother, Will, blowing smoke rings out the open door into the starry night. In front of him, Peregrin Took cuts a dash, dancing with Diamond of Long Cleeve. Do you think she looks rather as if she can keep up with all his merry scrapes? Behind the couple, we glimpse Sam's brothers, Hamson and Halfred, debating whether to ask their sisters to join the dance or to go out for a smoke. On the bench against the wall, Sam's sister Daisy wears a green, daisy-sprigged gown and sits beside sister May as they clap for the dancers.
At the well-laden board, Rose's brother Tom Cotton offers a beehive-shaped honey cake to Sam's sister, Marigold. I like to think he baked it at home on the farm, hoping she would like it. And finally, Sam's cousin Anson (son of the famous Andy) fills his plate with food amid the rising steam of a smoking punchbowl.
As for the two hobbits coming up the snowy lane by lantern light and moonlight, it's up to you to decide who else might be a guest of this wonderful party in the year 1427. Perhaps it is you, bringing along your favorite fellow Tolkien fan to relish Yule as they celebrate it in the Shire. Would you dance? Would you eat? Would you go further along the hall to a firelit parlor or burrow down in a guestroom with a view of the winter's night? What a happy dream.
Loving attention has been paid to the details contained in the author's own depiction of the entry hall of Bag End, while care has also been taken to correct the problems of scale which dissatisfied him in his drawings. The carpet has been taken out for dancing on the tiled floor, and we see Merry and Pippin's elven cloaks hanging amongst the others on the hall tree. The large mirror and clock are there, as are the bell pull and the central lantern. The pressed flower lanterns hanging amongst the greenery echo the ones I imagined for Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday party. If anyone was fonder of flowers than Bilbo, it would have been Sam.
Other details you might spot are the brooches being worn for this special occasion by the three members of the Fellowship, and the fact that Merry and Pippin have taken to wearing very long coats due to their unusual stature. As for the evergreen sprigs and wreaths worn by the company, they are our reminder that hobbits do, indeed, possess an ordinary everyday magic in our eyes and remain closely connected with the green world.
And now that you've met everyone at this lively gathering, pull up a chair and enjoy this video short of a very good Yule at Bag End. Wishing you good health, good cheer, good art, and great reading!