Feasts in Númenor
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In Tolkien's fictional land of Númenor, there were three annual celebrations of a religious character:
- Erukyermë at the beginning of spring, the prayer for a good year
- Erulaitalë in the middle of summer, the prayer for a good harvest
- Eruhantalë in the autumn, the thanksgiving for a good harvest
Collectively these were known as the Three Prayers.
During all of these ceremonies, the only person allowed to speak was the King, who doubled in his role as an archiepiscopus.
Since Erukyermë marked the beginning of a new year, this points to the existence of a separate calendar for religious purposes, beginning at vernal equinox. For civil matters the Edain started the year in the middle of winter, just after Yule, a tradition attested as far back as the First Age.
