Vera Chapman, founder of the Tolkien Society and Jessica Yates, one of the Oxonmoot founders, at Eagle and Child, Oxonmoot 1979
The idea of a Tolkien-related gathering in Oxford came from the multiple connections of the writer with the city, and was initially suggested by John Abbot in the fanzine Nazgul. The first Oxonmoot took place over 13 to 15 September 1974, and was based in the former Welsh Pony pub in George Street. Among other activities such as visiting the Bodleian Library and lunching in The Eagle and Child pub, attendants of this first meeting laid a wreath on Tolkien's grave, and recited A Elbereth Gilthoniel.[2] During this first Oxonmoot an American student and member of the Mythopoeic Society joined the original group.[2] The 1992 Oxonmoot, at the centenary of Tolkien's birth, was held together with the 23rd Mythopoeic Conference.[3] From 1991 Oxonmoot has been hosted in different colleges of the University of Oxford, for example, Lady Margaret Hall from 2009 to 2014,[4][5] and St Antony's College from 2015 to 2019.[6][7][8]
Oxonmoot has become the largest of the Tolkien Society's calendar of events, typically bringing about 200 fans from the UK and abroad.[9] The 2018 Oxonmoot was the largest with more than 300 attendees, coinciding with the popular Bodleian exhibition Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth.[10]
Activities
Fan gathering at Tolkien's gravesite during the 2008 Oxonmoot.
Oxonmoot takes place over a weekend and includes talks, art shows, reading circles, theatre performances,[11] workshops, and social events such as quizzes, a banquet and a masquerade.[12] The event closes with a remembrance ceremony called Enyalië at Tolkien's grave in Wolvercote cemetery.[13] The Enyalië continues the tradition established during the first Oxonmoot of laying a wreath on the grave of Tolkien and his wife Edith, and includes words by the Chairman of the Tolkien Society, a selected reading from Tolkien, and a recital of the poem Namárië.[14]
