The 12 Days of Christmas

[JimR-OCDS]

From l558 until l829, Roman Catholics in England were not allowed to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for 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,and 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.

* Eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

* Twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Now you know how this very strange song became a Beautiful Christmas Carol

[dwinkjr]

Not quite the true origin of this one. See hte link to snopes.com below.

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp

God Bless,

Dave

[JimR-OCDS]

Not quite the true origin of this one. See hte link to snopes.com below.

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp

God Bless,

Dave

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gee, and I did a search in snopes.com before posting this and it came up empty. I must not have put the text correctly in the search.

Thanks Dave.

[dwinkjr]

Not quite the true origin of this one. See hte link to snopes.com below.

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp

God Bless,

Dave

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gee, and I did a search in snopes.com before posting this and it came up empty. I must not have put the text correctly in the search.

Thanks Dave.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

NP, only reason i found it so quickly was htey were discussing this on a radio show the other morning.

God Bless,

Dave

[ZOEgirl 4 GOD]

coolness

[Guest mildinsanity]

My senior pastor mentioned this in a sermon a few Sundays ago, and I thought it was interesting. He made the point that there is no actual evidence saying that The Twelve Days of Christmas was written by Catholics, but that there is also no actual evidence that the song wasn't written by Catholics. You can search it on the web, and the sites that it'll bring up will say that it definitely was not written by Catholics with a secret message of their faith in it. But they don't even mention the evidence that points towards it being written by Catholics with a secret message of their faith in it.

Mm. He went a bit into the evidence on both sides of the question, but I can't remember... I'll have to ask him about it.