Object: Gardening Gloves
Creator: Mrs. Maggot
Type: Fibre Arts, Cotton and Leather
Year of manufacture: 1419 S.R.
Origin of object: Bamfurlong, The Marish, Shire
Artifact Number: 127
Owner: Marialite Maggot (1419-present)
Collection: Loaned
Image: Photograph, ‘Celia Birtwell, Pretty Woman garden gloves.’ Photographer: wheredidyoubuythat.com. Flickr. CC by 2.0. https://www.flickr.com/photos/wheredidyoubuythatcom/4134525818/
Label
To commemorate the birth of her 10th grandchild, coincidentally coinciding with the end of the War of the Ring (1419 S.R.), Mrs. Maggot hand crafted two pairs of gloves for Marialite Maggot. While fibre arts were less practiced in the Eastern Farthing of the Shire, the Maggot family tradition was to make a pair of gloves for each member of the family when they were born. Eventually the gloves would be worn when the child came of age to help on the family farm.
Description:
From the early ages to the present day, Hobbits have been predominantly known to be skilled farmers and gardeners. Throughout the Third Age, the farmers in each of the four farthings of the Shire distinguished themselves from one another by the type of land and crop grown. The East Farthing, of which the artifact displayed originates from, was marsh-like and boggish yet quite fertile and expansive – hence the name of the Region being the Marish. Respectively the people of the Marish were generational farmers, growing crops of mushrooms, watercress, cranberries, and other vegetation of the sorts.
The Maggot family in particular were renowned in the Marish for their excellent mushroom crop and unwavering farmer spirits. The Maggot’s played a role in the precursor events of the War of the Ring, providing lodging and safe travels for the four Hobbits – including none other than Frodo Baggins – of the Company in the beginning of their journey. The gardening gloves above are loaned by the 10th and youngest grandchild of Mr and Mrs Maggot, Marialite Maggot. Marialite Maggot was born within the same year and the same month as the end of the War of the Ring. While it is a Maggot family tradition to craft gardening gloves for the newborn to eventually wear at their coming of age and subsequent contribution to the family business, these gloves for Marialite signified much more. In times of uncertainty and turmoil it is most important to celebrate these small triumphs of humanity and remember the will of the generations that carried our bloodlines to where they are today. While war wages on, so does life, and to be stuck in our miseries is not productive.
Marialite loaned her handmade gloves, gifted from her grandmother to the 50th Anniversary Exhibition to the end of the War of the Ring as a reminder that life and purity will always prevail, so long as we as family and communities work to cultivate it.
The gloves have planted the literal seeds of the generations past, but also nurture the future of the Shire and its farming communities. After the War of the Ring, the Shire underwent quite a transformation, at least as far a transformation as Hobbits are willing to go. Inspired by the bravery of the Company and their own re-found confidence in Hobbit abilities, Hobbits of the Marish began venturing further East. They traded and sold their crops with the peoples of the East, in turn drawing a market to their hometown. Quickly, the East Farthing became the site of multicultural intermingling, ramping up crop production and output, being the transporters and carriers of goods in and out of the Shire, to and from the East.
Many technological and practical advancements were made in the 50 years past to allow for the expansion of the farming businesses and craftsmanship alike in the Shire. Such as the incorporation or commission of Dwarvish metals and skill to weave into the fibres of the gloves to extend the durability and lifetime of gloves. Which is why original cotton and leather gloves like Marialite’s will not be seen donned by Hobbits working in the fields in the Marish today. However, the traditional ones are still made to commemorate the ancestors and remind themselves of their roots. Now at 50 years old, Marialite is in the process of making her own first grandchild’s gloves to be displayed above the cradle fashioned exactly after the ones her own grandmother made for her.