# 12 days of christmas

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 15, 2002, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871 "2002-12-15T08:41:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![thornz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@thornz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thornz)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871/1 "2002-12-15T08:41:27Z")

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A question that has plagued me since chorus in elemetary school: where did this song come from? Why the odd set of gifts? I mean each gift is either a bird, a person doing something odd (“oh honey, lords a leaping…you shouldn’t have”), or the ever popular 5 golden rings. There has to be some reasoning or symbolism behind it.

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871/2 "2002-12-15T09:04:26Z")

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[See you in Cafe Society.](http://www.byrum.org/misc/christmas/origin.html)

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871/3 "2002-12-16T00:45:36Z")

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I like the part about the three wench friends.

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**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871/4 "2002-12-16T00:50:20Z")

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Wow… word for word, too…

[Snopes doesn’t think so.](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp)

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**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871/5 "2002-12-16T00:51:53Z")

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:smack:

Sorry…didn’t scroll down…

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-christmas/142871/6 "2002-12-16T03:36:44Z")

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Color me embarrassed.

:::extends wrist to be slapped for spreading a UL:::