The 12 days of Christmas.

The Twelve Days of Christmas is one of those songs most of us grew up on.  I grew up hearing the traditional version and the Hawaiian version with coconuts, papaya trees, and other delightful things.  The song has even been adjusted and used in commercials.

The 12 days of Christmas begins on December 25th and goes to January 5th. Most people celebrate Christmas and New Years instead of Christmas and various saints days till 12 days have finished.

The origin of the song is rather murky but the first printed copy appeared in 1730 in a children's book "Mirth without Mystery" but other than that, there is little available to hint at where it came from.  There are people out there who state the song was written to represent Christian things at a time they were prosecuted.

For instance the first day of Christmas has a partridge in a pear tree but it really stands for Jesus Christ.  The two turtle doves represents the old and new testaments while the three french horns  are used instead of the three virtues of hope, faith, and Charity. The four calling birds refers to the four gospels, the five golden rings is for the first five books of the old testament while the six geese playing represents the six days of creation.  The seven swans a swimming is the seven sacraments, the eight maids a milking represents the eight beatitudes and the nine ladies dancing is used instead of  the nine Fruits of the holy spirt.  The ten lords a-leaping are the ten commandments, the eleven pipers are the eleven apostles and the 12 drummers a-drumming represent the twelve points of the doctrine in the Apostles creed.

Unfortunately, there is little actual proof that this idea is based in truth.  As far as people can tell, Christians could practice their beliefs at the time the song was around so there was no need to hide things.  The evidence indicates this is more likely a forfeits and memory game requiring people to remember all the items.

To me, its always been one of those songs that seemed to take forever to sing and if you didn't have the lyrics in front of you, you never got through the song.  I think we did it one time for a school Christmas program because it used so many bodies.  It appears the version most people are familiar with only dates from 1909 when composer Frederic Austin.  He made changes to some of the words so they fit the tune better.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day and a wonderful weekend.