Twelve Days Of Christmas True Meaning
“The Twelve Days of Christmas,” is a popular Christmas carol, that many of us have probably sang at one time or another. Many people however, are confused as to which days are actually considered the “actual twelve days.” As a matter of fact, Chris and I had this very discussion today, while at lunch, and decided it would be a good blog topic.
Many people, including myself, naturally assume that they are the twelve days just before Christmas. According to The Twelve Days of Christmas by Dennis Bratcher, “Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th).” ” The popular song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is usually seen as simply a nonsense song for children. However, some have suggested that it is a song of Christian instruction dating to the 16th century religious wars in England, with hidden references to the basic teachings of the Faith.”
According to The Twelve Days of Christmas, on Snopes.com, there are in fact, many symbols of Christian meaning throughout the song. I don’t know about you, but I found this very interesting and wanted to pass this information along:
- A Partidge in a pear tree—Jesus Christ, the son of God
- 2 Turtle doves—The old and new testament
- 3 French hens—Faith, Hope, and Charity, the Theoloical virtues
- 4 Calling birds—The 4 Gospels/4 evangelists
- 5 Golden rings—The first 5 books of the Old testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch
- 6 Geese a laying—The 6 days of creation
- 7 Swans a swimming—The 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit (the 7 sacraments)
- 8 Maids a milking—The 8 beatitudes (Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteous sake)
- 9 Ladies dancing—The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
- 10 Lords a leaping—The 10 Commandments
- 11 Pipers piping—The 11 faithful apostles
- 12 Drummers drumming—The points of doctrine in the Apostles Creed
Thanks for reading!
Barb
Posted in Uncategorized on December 9th, 2008 by Barb | | 2 Comments
on December 30th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Thank you so much for this version for the twelve days before Christmas. When we were at Gideon’s Camp meeting before Christmas, the president of the Auxiliary gave us this without the meaning of each day. I didn’t do so well because I have not hear it in a Christian way. It was new to me and I have been trying to find it on the computer. Thank you so much for it. I wanted to send it to my 95 year old mother-in-law. I was telling her about it and she never heard of it this way either. She is a very Christ loving person as my husband and I are. Thank you again. God Bless you Dixie Lee
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Barb Reply:
January 4th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Dixie Lee:
I appreciate your comments.
Thanks for reading my blog!
Barb
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