How many types of birds are mentioned in the 12 Days of Christmas?
As a lifelong birder, I have another suggestion: that each of the carol's 12 lines represents a bird. Given that the first four lines, along with the sixth and seventh, are explicitly avian, I suggest that the whole verse was originally written to celebrate 12 different birds.
How many gifts are given in the 12 Days of Christmas?
Your true love has given you a whopping number of 364 gifts over the 12 Days of Christmas. That's almost one gift a day for a whole year! It's only one gift short (2 during a leap year), but with that many gifts, including 42 geese a-swimming, 36 ladies dancing and 12 drummers drumming, who's counting?
What is a calling bird in the 12 Days of Christmas?
A Eurasian blackbird. This is where a look back at the history of the lyrics pays dividends, because early versions of the song don't talk about “calling birds” at all but about “colly birds.” The word “colly” comes from the Old English word for coal.
Why are there so many birds in the 12 days of Christmas?
What does 7 swans mean?
The Seven Swans a Swimming verse represents the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:6-8). Prophesy, service, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership & mercy.
The 9 Ladies Dancing are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. The 10 Lords A-leaping are the ten commandments. The 11 Pipers Piping are the eleven faithful apostles. The 12 Drummers Drumming are the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed.
The Eleven Pipers Piping represent the eleven faithful apostles. Joyce Byers created unique Carolers to represent each of the 12 Days of Christmas. This period begins on December 25th and runs through the 12 days of the Christmas Season.
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues. 4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists. 5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the “Pentateuch,” which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
“Colly birds” most commonly refers to blackbirds, but it can also be a catch-all term for any small songbirds. Songbirds, including blackbirds, would have been a common menu item at the time of the song's origin. Four colly birds would not have made much of meal, to be sure.
We observe that we have the same number of partridges as drummers (12 of each); doves and pipers (22 of each); hens and lords (30 of each) and so on. So the easiest way to count our presents is to add up to the middle of the list and then double the result: (12 + 22 + 30 + 36 + 40 + 42) × 2 = 364.
One idea is that the 12 days represent the time it takes for Christmas to fall on the same day each year, as well as the time it takes for Jesus to be born. Another theory is that the 12 gifts are meant to represent Jesus and his 12 apostles. Another theory is that the 12 days represent the 12 months of the year.
The Ten Lords A Leaping represent the Decalogue (Ten Words), or the ten commandments that Moses brought down from his meeting with God atop of Mount Sinai.
What is the meaning of the partridge in a pear tree?
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . a partridge in a pear tree. 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.
In most traditions, the 12 days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day and run from December 25 to January 5. Some traditions, however, hold that the first day of Christmas is December 26 (the day after Christmas Day) and the 12 days run through January 6.
The twelfth day of Christmas, 5th January, is the Eve of Epiphany – Epiphany being on 6th January. It marks the end of Christmas celebrations, and is typically when people traditionally take down their Christmas trees, wreaths and decorations.
“Colly bird?” It's essentially a black bird, Armenti said Wednesday. Although both “calling” and “colly” have appeared in versions of the song, “colly,” which is derived from the Old English word for coal, predates “calling” by more than a century, he wrote. And the reference is to the color of the bird, not its voice.
The ninth day of Christmas is the feast day of St. Basil the Great (his feast day is also celebrated on January 1 on some liturgical calendars) and St. Gregory Nazianzen (also known as Gregory the Theologian). They were both bishops in the 4th century.
The Twelve Days are 25 December to 5 January, counting first and last. The Octave, or Eighth Day, is New Year's Day and the Feast of the Circumcision, the day Jesus was circumcised according to the faith. The evening of the last day is Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve, the next morning being Epiphany.
Typically at the end of the 12 days, you would have received 12 partridges in pear trees, 22 turtle doves, 30 French hens, 36 calling birds, 40 gold rings, 42 geese laying eggs, 42 swans, 40 milking maids, 36 dancing ladies, 30 leaping lords, 22 piping pipers and 12 drumming drummers from your true love, but with the ...
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves And a partridge in a pear tree.
