I’ve got big news. There are just 168 days until Christmas. Yes, it is right around the corner, folks. All the trimmings, just a minute away. So I thought I’d help you prepare.
And what better way than to take a quick look at “The Twelve Days of Christmas” that we all know and love.
The song is heard everywhere, from shopping malls to television commercials to car radios. Everywhere you turn, the choruses are singing about those Lords-A-Leaping. Or how about the Swans-A-Swimming?
But really, the question is — Why? I mean. What does any of this have to do with Christmas? What with all these doves, and milking-maids, and geese, and such?
My question is: Why did this thing stick around? The carol has its roots in the early 1700s in England. The song was this kind of memory-and-forfeit game sung by British children. The gist of the game was this. The players had to remember all of the previous verses and add a new verse at the end. Those who were unable to remember a verse had to pay a forfeit. Which meant they had to give the others a piece of candy or a trinket or something.
But there is another theory about all of this.
It goes back much earlier. The theory connects the carol to the era when Catholicism was outlawed in England between 1558 and 1829.
The carol was a catechism song for Catholics to learn “the tenets of their faith.” You see, they could no longer practice Catholicism openly in the new English Anglican society. It sounds like a pretty good theory to me, whether it will ever be proven or not.
However, this is how the Catholic roots all break down.
The verses of the song, along with their supposed symbolism:
– A Partridge in a Pear Tree – Jesus Christ
– Two Turtle Doves – The Old and New Testaments
– Three French Hens – The three virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity
– Four Calling/Collie Birds – Four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
– Five Golden Rings – First five books of the Old Testament
– Six Geese-a-Laying – Six days of creation before God’s rest on the seventh day
– Seven Swans-a-Swimming – Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
– Eight Maids-a-Milking – Eight Beatitudes
– Nine Ladies Dancing – Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
– Ten Lords-a-Leaping – Ten Commandments
– Eleven Pipers Piping – Eleven faithful disciples
– Twelve Drummers Drumming -Twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed
Oh. And this. The 12 days of Christmas, in fact, are the days from Dec. 25, celebrated as the birth of Jesus Christ, to the Epiphany, celebrated on Jan. 6 as the day when the manifestation of Christ’s glory was realized.
So. There it is. A little Christmas Trivia in July to get you geared up and ready to go.
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“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”
– Calvin Coolidge
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“I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.”
– Harlan Miller
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“Kindness is the mark we leave on the world.”
– R.A. Bartlett
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Those 12 days are coming. Seven swans, and all.
