Merry Christmas to all. No, I am not a day – or twelve days late - and a dollar short. Today is the twelfth day of Christmas or twelfth night. We are in the Christmas season in the church year. So, once more with feeling Merry Christmas to all and to all a good day.Twelve Days of Christmas,
People today probably know about the twelve days of Christmas
– if at all – through the song in which the singer’s true love gives her or him
a gift for every day. It is one of those
building songs which adds on to the items from the previous verse i.e. On the
first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree. On the
second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves and a partridge
in a pear tree – and so on.
I read somewhere a calculation of how many gifts the true
love gave in total. I checked it out on
Google and the generosity of the ‘true love’ is very impressive:
12 Partridges, 22 Turtle Doves, 30 French Hens, 36
Calling Birds, 40 Gold Rings, 42 Geese-a-Laying, 42 Swans-a-Swimming, 40
Maids-a-Milking, 36 Ladies Dancing, 30 Lords-a-Leaping, 22 Pipers Piping, and
12 Drummers Drumming, totaling 364 gifts across all days.
I hope you find that informative and interesting. But wait, there’s more. In addition, each of the gifts have a
religious meaning or significance. This
varies according to traditions, but her is on I found on-line:
Partridge in a Pear Tree: Jesus (Partridge) and the Cross
(Pear Tree).
Two Turtle Doves: The Old and New Testaments.
Three French Hens: The theological virtues of Faith, Hope,
and Love.
Four Calling Birds: The Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke,
John).
Five Gold Rings: The first five books of the Bible
(Pentateuch).
Six Geese a-Laying: The six days of Creation (God rested on
the seventh) .
Seven Swans a-Swimming: The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Eight Maids a-Milking: The Eight Beatitudes.
Nine Ladies Dancing: The nine Fruits of the Spirit (Love,
Joy, Peace, etc.).
Ten Lords a-Leaping: The Ten Commandments.
Eleven Pipers Piping: The eleven faithful Apostles (after
Judas's betrayal).
Twelve Drummers Drumming: The twelve points of the
Apostles' Creed.
With that, I will wish you all a Merry
Christmas; Happy Twelfth Night; and yes, blessed new year.
