Holidays . Just For FunOn December 20, 2009 by Adam

When most people hear of “The 12 Days of Christmas”, they think of the song. This song had its origins as a teaching tool designed to help young Christians learn their faith.

The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. The “true love” mentioned in the song refers to God. The “me” who receives the presents refers to every Christian. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ’s sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: “Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so…”

The other symbols mean the following:

• The “two turtle doves” were the Old and New Testaments – another gift from God.
• The “three French hens” were faith, hope, and love – the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (I Corinthians 13).
• The “four calling birds” were the four Gospels which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.
• The “five golden rings” were the first five books of the Bible also called the “Books of Moses”.
• The “six geese a-laying” were the six days of creation.
• The “seven swans a swimming” were the “seven gifts of the Holy Spirit”. (I Corinthians 12:8-11; Romans 12, Ephesians 4; I Peter 4:10-11).
• The “eight maids a milking” were the eight beatitudes.
• The “nine ladies dancing” were nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22 & 23)
• The “ten lords a-leaping” were the Ten Commandments.
• The “eleven pipers piping” were the eleven faithful disciples.
• And the “twelve drummers drumming” were the twelve points of the Apostles’ Creed.

So, the next time you hear “The 12 Days of Christmas”, consider how this otherwise non-religious sounding song had its origins in the Christian faith.