People often think of the twelve days of Christmas as the days preceeding the festival. Actually, Christmas is a season of the Christian year that begins December 25 and lasts until January 6th - the day of Epiphany - when the church celebrates the revelation of Christ as the light of the world and recalls the journey of the magi.
The origin of the Twelve Days is complicated, and is related to differences in calendars, church traditions, and ways to observe this holy day in various cultures. In the Western church, Epiphany is traditionally celebrated as the time the three Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the Christchild. In some cultures, especially Hispanic and Latin American culture, January 6th is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings (Span: la Fiesta de Reyes, el Dia de los Tres Reyes, or el Dia de los Reyes Magos; Dutch: Driekoningendag). Even though December 25th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, January 6th is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Since Eastern Orthodox traditions use a different religious calendar, they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and observe Epiphany or Theophany on January 19th.
There are some interesting stories about the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Below is an interpretation that is now a moden myth, but is actually quite nice as myths go. It is as follows:
From 1558 until 1829 people in England were not allowed to practice Catholocism openly or in private as it was officially banned. It was during this era that someone wrote 'The Twelve Days Of Christmas' as a kind of secret catechism that could be sung in public without risk of persecution. The song has two levels of interpretation: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church. Each element in the carol is a code word for a religious reality.
1. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ. Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge because she would feign injury to decoy a predator away from her nestlings. She was even willing to die for them. The tree is the symbol of the fall of the human race through the sin of Adam and Eve. It is also the symbol of its redemption by Jesus Christ on the tree of the Cross.
2. The two turtledoves are the Old and New Testaments.
3. Three french hens stand for faith, hope and love, the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (1 Corinthians 13).
4. The four calling birds are the four Gospels.
5. The five gold rings recall the Torah (Law) the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
6. The six geese of laying stand for the six days of creation.
7. Seven swans a swimming represent the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
8. The eight maids a milking are the eight Beatitudes.
9. Nine ladies dancing are the nine fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
10. The ten lords a leaping are the Ten Commandments.
11. Eleven pipers piping stand for the eleven faithful diciples.
12. Twelve drummers drumming symbolize the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed: Belief in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, made man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, that he sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.
Some facts as described in Snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp):
In 1558, Henry's Catholic daughter Mary I died, and her non-Catholic half-sister Elizabeth I took the throne; the following year the Act of Uniformity abolished "the old worship," and the open practice of Catholicism was forbidden by law until Parliament passed the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829. However, it is not accurate to say that, without exception, anyone caught practicing Catholicism (or possessing material indicating adherence to Catholicism) at any time during this 270-year period was immediately imprisoned or executed. The state's toleration of Catholicism waxed and waned with the political exigencies of the times, and during some periods Catholics were treated more leniently than others.
Since Catholics and Anglicans both used the Old and New Testaments, possessing their contents in written form did not expose one as a Catholic, and thus there was no need to cloak common Biblical concepts through the use of mnemonic devices.
The utility of a Christmas song as a surreptitious means of memorizing a catechism would be quite limited, as its use would obviously be restricted to Christmastime.
There are no obvious relationships between the concepts to be memorized and the symbols used to represent them in "The Twelve Days of Christmas." In what way do "eight maids a-milking" remind one of the Eight Beatitudes? Without any obvious relationships between the symbols and the concepts they symbolize, this song is no more useful as a "memory aid" than simply memorizing the numbers one through twelve would be.
Snopes.com also points out that some misinterpretations have crept into the English version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" over the years. The fourth day's gift is actually four "colly birds," not four "calling birds." (The word "colly" literally means "black as coal," and thus "colly birds" would be blackbirds.) The "five golden rings" refers not to five pieces of jewelry, but to five ring-necked birds (such as pheasants). When these errors are corrected, the pattern of the first seven gifts' all being types of birds is re-established.
This interesting myth behind the meaning of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" may not be totally without merit. As further mentioned by Snopes.com, it is possible that the story about "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has been confused with a song called "A New Dial" (also known as "In Those Twelve Days"), which dates to at least 1625 and assigns religious meanings to each of the twelve days of Christmas.
This popular interpretation of the meaning to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" first appeared on the Internet in 1995 via an article from Catholic Information Network (by Fr. Hal Stockert). Though this myth is still being spread, the source has long withdrawn its claim to the story. According to A Celebration and History by Leigh Grant, the written lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" first appeared in Mirth without Mischief in the early 1780s in England. Grant states that the tune to which these words are sung apparently dates back much further and came from France. Another reference, Mirth without Mischief describes "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as a type of memory game played by children at that time. A leader recited the first verse, the next child recited the second verse, and so on until someone missed a verse and had to pay some kind of penalty in the game, either a kiss or a piece of candy, or perhaps some sort of forfeit.
Either way, continue to sing this delightful Christmas song of the 12 Days of Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the celebrated visit by the magi.
Referenced Sources:
Dennis Bratcher, The Twelve Days of Christmas, http://www.cresourcei.org/cy12days.html
Snopes.com, The Twelve Days of Christmas, http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp
