public notice

Calendar Reckoning at the Counter

This office keeps records in the Shire Reckoning and accepts appointments from neighbors who use the Common (Gregorian) calendar.

Today, in both calendars

Common calendar	Shire calendar
Saturday, 16 May 2026	Sterday, 15 Thrimidge, Imp.A. 2026

Month names and special days

The Shire year has twelve thirty-day months, plus festival days that do not belong to any month.

Common (approx.)	Shire reckoning	Notes for local use
Jan	Afteryule	Begins after 2 Yule
Feb	Solmath	Winter bookkeeping month
Mar	Rethe	Spring posting lanes reopen
Apr	Astron	Field routes stabilize
May	Thrimidge	Current office volume rises
Jun	Forelithe	Month ends before Lithe days
Late Jun / early Jul	1 Lithe, Midyear's Day, Overlithe (leap years), 2 Lithe	Festival days; no month name
Jul	Afterlithe	Resumes monthly count
Aug	Wedmath	Harvest dispatches begin
Sep	Halimath	Heavy parcel season starts
Oct	Winterfilth	Route weather watch begins
Nov	Blotmath	Early dusk affects final dispatch
Dec	Foreyule	Year closes before 1 Yule
Year-end	1 Yule, 2 Yule	Festival boundary days

Weekdays used by the Post

Common name	Shire name
Saturday	Sterday
Sunday	Sunday
Monday	Monday
Tuesday	Trewsday
Wednesday	Hevensday
Thursday	Mersday
Friday	Highday

Desk conversion widget

Choose any Common date and the counter will render the equivalent Shire date used on slips, notices, and ledger entries.

Common calendar date If no date is chosen, today's date is used.

Rendered field	Value
Common date	-
Shire full style	-
Shire short style	-
Clerk note	-

Notes for humans using the common calendar

Bring appointments in Common dates if that is what you use; the clerk will convert at the desk.
If your letter says Highday, treat it as Friday for travel and scheduling.
During Lithe days and Yule days, expect date labels that are day names rather than month/day numbers.
The year count shown as Imp.A. is the office age-reckoning. In this system, Imp.A. year = AD year.

From The Postmaster’s Ledger

I keep these entries as my father kept them, and his father before him, from the late Fourth Age onward.

The reckoning has been copied by hand from clerk to clerk at this counter.

One technical note for neighbors: the historical BC/AD sequence has no year zero. We therefore keep “the boundary” in story terms, but use standard historical numbering in practical conversion.

Master chronology (postmaster’s office copy)

Age / period	Office name	Approx. real-world span	Length	Clerk’s note
Creation / Ainulindale	Creation before Time	Outside ordinary dating	-	Mythic, not a counting age
Days before Days	Shaping of Arda	c. 62,000–28,700 BC	c. 33,500 years	Before sun-counted ages
Years of the Trees	Age of the Trees / Starlight	c. 28,700–18,661 BC	c. 10,000 years	Before First Age rising
First Age	Elder Age	c. 18,661–13,760 BC	4,902 years	War against Morgoth
Second Age	Numenorean Age	c. 13,759–10,319 BC	3,441 years	Sea-kings and Downfall
Third Age	Age of the Rings	c. 10,318–7,298 BC	3,021 years	Ends with Sauron’s fall
Fourth Age	Age of Seed and Hearth	c. 7,297–4,865 BC	2,433 years	Reconstructed later age
Fifth Age	Age of Cities and Kings	c. 4,864–2,433 BC	2,432 years	Reconstructed later age
Sixth Age	Age of Iron, Law, and Covenant	c. 2,432–1 BC	2,432 years	Reconstructed later age
Seventh Age	Imperial Age	AD 1–present	ongoing	Current age

Conversion rules used at this desk

Reckoning	Conversion
Imperial Age	Imp.A. year = AD year
Sixth Age	Si.A. year n = 2433 - n BC
Fifth Age	Fi.A. year n = 4865 - n BC
Fourth Age	Fo.A. year n = 7298 - n BC
Third Age	T.A. year n = 10319 - n BC
Second Age	S.A. year n = 13760 - n BC

So in our current ledger style:

Imp.A. 2026 = AD 2026
Si.A. 2432 = 1 BC
Si.A. 2406 = 27 BC

Why the name “Imperial Age” is kept

The name marks not merely one imperial throne, but the long imperial frame of law, calendar, church, administration, and inherited statecraft that has shaped the AD-counted world. In short: the order changed hands many times, but the grammar of empire endured.

Clean office summary

Age	Office name	Dates
Creation	Creation before Time	before ordinary reckoning
Days before Days	Shaping of Arda	c. 62,000–28,700 BC
Years of the Trees	Age of Trees / Starlight	c. 28,700–14,349 BC, overlapping the First Age after c. 18,661 BC
First Age	Elder Age	c. 18,661–13,760 BC
Second Age	Numenorean Age	c. 13,759–10,319 BC
Third Age	Age of the Rings	c. 10,318–7,298 BC
Fourth Age	Age of Seed and Hearth	c. 7,297–4,865 BC
Fifth Age	Age of Cities and Kings	c. 4,864–2,433 BC
Sixth Age	Age of Iron, Law, and Covenant	c. 2,432–1 BC
Seventh Age	Imperial Age	AD 1–present

Today, by this ledger:

Imperial Age 2026
May 15, Imp.A. 2026