Durin’s Day

A time of the distant past, when the Longbeard Dwarves were ruled by Durin the Deathless, the eldest of the Fathers of the Dwarves. Durin was the founder of Khazad-dûm, and dwelt there during the Elder Days (a time to which Gimli refers in his chanted verses in Khazad-dûm) but he passed away before the final defeat of Morgoth at the end of the First Age.

In Haldir's words quoted above, the meaning of 'Durin's Day' is a little more ambiguous. Khazad-dûm stood in the mountains above his land of Lórien, and it may be that some of its people could remember back as far as the first Durin. However, there had been five other Kings of Khazad-dûm since that time, and it's conceivable that he had one of these later Durins in mind. The most likely candidate would be the last, Durin VI, whose people awoke the Balrog in Moria and fled, as did many of the people of Lórien.

To confuse matters further, 'Durin's Day' can also apply to a particular day of the Dwarves' calendar rather than a period in the distant past. For more on that topic, see the alternative entry for Durin's Day.