Event report: Tolkien Thing 2021 at Rittergut Lützensömmern

From August 5-8, 2021, I participated in the German Tolkien Society's main annual event for its members, the Tolkien Thing (Tolkien Moot) at the Rittergut (Knight's Estate) in Lützensömmern, Thuringia, and I had a blast. 

It was the first time for me in nine years. The last time I was with the Thing I was made an honorary member of the society and I think I needed a break after having spent more than ten years basically full time on building it. 

When we arrived some ground rules had to be followed because of the pandemic: to have fewer people in the breakfast room the participants were put into two groups - Istari & Hobbits -; masks to be worn in all rooms; only those fully vaccinated or recovered were allowed in and you had to provide a recent test. I am not quite sure why I went for the Istari because of that I had to get up early for breakfast on Friday!

Although I had to finish a short translation while there I had managed to send it off to the text agency by Friday and had promised myself to simply relax. I wanted to sit down on one of these comfy chairs that you could find all around the place with a cup of coffee; listen to a talk or two; go for a walk. I participated in the regulars' tables meeting because I am planning on reviving the Jena smial and it is always fun to listen to what the others have been doing and are planning on doing the next year. 

The first major fun item for me was the annual general meeting. And yes, really, it is always a huge fun, particularly when you are no longer responsible for it! Things have changed a little since I was the chairman - one year the members voted to disallow the chairman from having Merlot during an AGM just because it took more than six years, iirc, and I had had three bottles of it. Outrageous demands! 🤣

The estate is rather huge, quite green, it has alpacas, chicken, pigs, and a few other smaller animals besides. Everywhere are wooden benches to take a seat but you could also play ping pong or volleyball or bake bread - you can relax or be really active there.  I was particularly fond of the little pond with its weeping willow because I truly love trees and willows are my favourite.

It was great to chat with normal people, some of which I had not seen in those nine years. And yes, there was party and dancing and drinking, too, but the probably best thing was the  ice cream van man who came in daily - with some really exotic choices, all of them excellent! 

An outstanding highlight was our Mathom Auction - members of the society bring in stuff they do no longer need or want and all of these items are auctioned off on behalf of the society. They range from the nerdy to the kitschy and not all of them are quite Tolkien - I bought a Pratchett novel for 3€ - but if over a thousand euros are made and given to the society it is totally worth the effort. And it is highly entertaining thanks to our auctioneers and a crowd happy to spend money for a good cause!

As with most of these events it was over way too quickly and even though one tried to talk as many people as possible there simply should have been more time. I really missed this and am very glad I got this opportunity. Let's hope that we will be able to get together more often in future!

Some notes on the photos

A view on the cute little lake at the Knight's Estate; the Doors of Dúrin beside it; CSI: Pelennor Fields (I think; it's a crime scene with the fell beast); open air seating for breakfast; the gallery of the main building; some nice chairs; every breakfast table was decorated to different cultures - Shire, Gondor, Mordor etc.

This post was originally published (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) on August 24th, 2021.