By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
For years, I thought the English Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” was about a girl with an incredibly long Christmas list, expecting her boyfriend or husband to gift her all those items. Turns out, I was mistaken!
The twelve days of Christmas instead refers to the period between December 25 and January 6. This is the traditional period marking Christ’s birth on Christmas Day to January 6, Epiphany, the arrival of the Magi.
Many Christian sources trace the song to biblical roots. Each gift in the song is thought to symbolize an aspect of the nativity and the Christian faith. According to the Lutheran Home Association, “The partridge in a pear tree represents Jesus, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on the first day of Christmas. Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge, a bird that will die to protect its young.”
The song’s origins are believed to have originated from an English poem or chant, featured in a children’s book called Mirth Without Mischief. Just imagine the joy children must have felt learning this fun and festive poem! A Christmas with all these gifts would have been a grand celebration filled with food, laughter, and music.
An article titled “Everything About ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ (Including the Gifts) Explained” offers an intriguing look at the English tradition of honoring Christ’s birthday over twelve days of merriment and gift-giving.
On each of the twelve days, the recipient received a gift—not just one for the day itself, but a repeat of all the gifts from previous days. Do the math: that’s 364 gifts! The giver must have needed a hefty bankroll to afford such a lavish Christmas celebration.
Here’s the list of gifts, as sung in the traditional carol:
- Day 1: A partridge in a pear tree
- Day 2: Two turtle doves
- Day 3: Three French hens
- Day 4: Four calling birds
- Day 5: Five golden rings
- Day 6: Six geese a-laying
- Day 7: Seven swans a-swimming
- Day 8: Eight maids a-milking
- Day 9: Nine ladies dancing
- Day 10: Ten lords a-leaping
- Day 11: Eleven pipers piping
- Day 12: Twelve drummers drumming
Over the years, the lyrics have been modified by different writers and performers, with some, like a famous female singer, even playfully “keeping” one of the drummers for herself!
No matter how the lyrics change or the meanings shift, we all still love singing along to “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Are you ready to join in?
