The meaning behind "The 12 Days of Christmas"

[nightangel1282]

I found this posted by a friend of mine on facebook. I'm not sure how to get the actual post from facebook to here, so I'm just going to copy/paste it for you all. I found it very interesting and it answers the question of what all those weird things have to do with Christmas...

Here you go:

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

This week, I found out.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism songfor young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.-

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

So there is your history for today. This knowledge was shared with me and I found it interesting and enlightening and now I know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol

End facbook post.

I found this very interesting... Any thoughts?

[Wykked Wytch]

I read this and instantly imagined some Christian secret agents using some kind of Christianese spy code based off "The 12 Days of Christmas." They do speak Christianese, don't they?

[Iosa the Invincible]

Here's what Wikipedia says about it:

A bit of modern folklore claims that the song's lyrics were written as a "catechism song" to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practicing Catholicism was criminalized in England (1558 until 1829). There is no primary evidence supporting this claim, and no evidence that the claim is historical, or "anything but a fanciful modern day speculation." The theory is of relatively recent origin. It was first suggested by Canadian English teacher and hymnologist Hugh D. McKellar in a short article, "How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas," published in 1979. In a later article published in the music journal The Hymn, he reiterates that the associations are his. The idea was further popularized by a Catholic priest, Fr. Hal Stockert, in an article he wrote in 1982 and posted online in 1995.

Variations in lyrics provide further evidence against the "catechism song" origin. For example, the four Gospels are often described as the "four calling birds," when in fact the phrase "calling birds" is a modern (probably 20th century) phonetic misunderstanding of "colly birds" (blackbirds).

Here's the rest of the article, if you're interested.

I also found a Snopes article about it.

[nightangel1282]

Darn. And here I thought it was an awesome and interesting piece of trivia...

Oh well, thanks for the correction.

[itachirumon]

That would have been awesome if it were true from a historical POV. I'm still playing Revelations so my "awesome pseudo-Church-conspiracy" related meter is high.

[Dragon Zachski]

I'm ashamed to admit that the news this is false is, well, news to me.

It wasn't one of those things I thought to check Snopes for.

[terri]

Kind of like the story about "Ring around the Roses" being inspired by the Great Plague (it wasn't).

[nightangel1282]

damnmit! That was another one I believed! I should really start checking out the trivia I pick up >.<

[Admiral Lithp]

Dec 14, 2011 20:54:41 GMT -5 terri said:

Kind of like the story about "Ring around the Roses" being inspired by the Great Plague (it wasn't).

It's more that the origin is unclear. It may very well have been inspired by the Black Death.

[tgrwulf]

Dec 14, 2011 20:54:41 GMT -5 terri said:

Kind of like the story about "Ring around the Roses" being inspired by the Great Plague (it wasn't).

What? Seriously? damnmitall.

[Caitshidhe]

I actually already knew both of these were false--it more or less goes without saying that, unless you hear it from a credible source to begin with, it's a good idea to do a little homework before you believe it and start repeating it as fact.

Related: another children's rhyme, 'Song of Sixpence', is said to have originated as a secret code used by pirates. That's not true either.

Seriously, Snopes is your friend.

[Professor Cold Heart]

Dec 13, 2011 23:41:35 GMT -5 nightangel1282 said:

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.-

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Hmm - wonder if this story was inspired by this?

[SpukiKitty]

To me The 12 Days of Christmas means "Someone has some really deranged ideas for Christmas gifts"!

[Dragon Zachski]

Dec 17, 2011 4:44:44 GMT -5 Caitshidhe said:

I actually already knew both of these were false--it more or less goes without saying that, unless you hear it from a credible source to begin with, it's a good idea to do a little homework before you believe it and start repeating it as fact.

Related: another children's rhyme, 'Song of Sixpence', is said to have originated as a secret code used by pirates. That's not true either.

Seriously, Snopes is your friend.

The problem is that when I was told this, the source was at the time credible and trustworthy to me. Regardless of the fact that the source is now untrustworthy, certain things stick with you that you don't even think to question yet.