a friend of mine recently shared a tidbit of info on her blog regarding the history of the Christmas Song The Twelve Days of Christmas. it intrigued me. so i went in search of more details....read on...pretty darn cool!!
good thing we catholics don't need to operate in code anymore....i'm so sure how good at it i'd be..ha!!
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
We all sing the song - we all know those twelve things "stand" for something - but, what, exactly? Well, the twelve days in the song are, in fact, the twelve days of Christmas (the season, not the day; there used to be a greater observance of the season following the day; Christmas Day was distinguished accordingly - nowadays we do most of our celebrating before the day). These are the days between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi.
The specific origins of the song are not known for certain, but it probably began in England as a "catechism song" to help Catholics remember their teaching of faith during the period of persecution of the Church. The meaning was, of course, in "code" and only those on the inside could divine the true significance.
So, the next time you go caroling, do keep in mind:
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS:
1 A Partridge in a Pear Tree - Jesus Christ, Son of God
2 Turtle Doves - The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens - Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds - tile Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings - the first Five Books of the Old Testament the "Pentatuch," which give the history of man's fall from grace
6 Geese A-laying - the six days of creation
7 Swans A -swimming - the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking - the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing - the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-Leaping - the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping - the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming- the twelve points of doctrine in tile Apostle's Creed
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3 comments:
You get an A for doing your homework! Well done!
It is snowing here but to much sadness the children had school!
We are praying for all of you
Take good care!
MB
Hi B Team:
See what you're missing....a beautiful sight from the window this morning. The first snow fall is always pretty. But then the newness wore off quickly while making my way to work in bumper to bumper traffic. OK....enough of winter...now on to Spring.
Thanks for sharing the true meaning of the Christmas carol.
I pray this has been a good day for the B Team.
NaNa
Pretty interesting stuff :) I couldn't remember all of them, but glad I remembered a few!
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