# 12 days of Xmas and a hidden religion meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 1999, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543 "1999-12-23T16:03:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/1 "1999-12-23T16:03:00Z")
I was emailed this and it made me wonder what the background was/is to the 12 Days of Christmas. I suppose this could be the basis, but I want da facts… The “Partridge in a pear tree” is Jesus Christ. “Two turtle doves” are the Old and New Testaments. “Three French hens” are Faith, Hope and Charity. “Four calling birds” are the four gospels. “Five golden rings” are the first five books of the Old Testament. “Six geese a-laying” are the six days of creation. “Seven swans a-swimming” are the seven gifts of the Spirit. “Eight maids a-milking” are eight Beatitudes. “Nine ladies dancing” are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. “Ten lords a-leaping” are the Ten Commandments. “Eleven pipers piping” are the eleven faithful Disciples. “Twelve drummers drumming” are the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed. * * * The early bird gets the worm but it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/2 "1999-12-23T16:07:00Z")
_sigh_ Another UL. Please visit [www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com) for any questions about questionable stories. They have a special section just for Xmas legends. To summarize, it’s ridiculous to think that someone would write a song that so cleverly hides the symbols of Christianity that you have to explain the symbols. Hidden meanings that stay hidden are pointless. BTW, it’s four “colly” birds (an old term for blackbirds, and the 5 gold rings are ring-necked pheasants. Common usage has distorted their meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/3 "1999-12-23T16:09:00Z")
Guy, thanks. I didn’t think to check snopes …I am a moron. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/4 "1999-12-23T16:20:00Z")
No, I’m just copping a superior attitude because I just happened to be browsing Snopes yesterday. Sorry if I came down on you. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/5 "1999-12-23T19:59:00Z")
I think this is a good example of someone adapting a well known idea (song, story, whatever) to make a different point than the original had. Nothing wrong with that. To find a list of twelve things that matches the song is clever and, my guess is, well-intentioned. But then some _other_ person, with a better-developed sense of drama than history, comes across the adaptation and needlessly leaps to the conclusion that the latter is the basis for the former. And e-mails all his/her friends and acquaintances. And swears it is God’s truth, it happened that way, it really did. And the legend is born. All of which kinda spoils the good work the adapter did, which is unfortunate. It would have been nice to recieve an e-mail that said, “Did you ever think about the 12 Days of Christmas like this?” Instead you get just another piece of crackpot mail. ## I don’t know where I’m going with this other than being grateful I have a resource in this message board to keep me out of that kind of trouble. Even though **Shirley** admits (sorta) to being asleep at the switch, she had the good sense to run it by the SDMB and get the straight dope before passing it on mindlessly. Let’s see. I lathered and I rinsed. But did I repeat? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/6 "1999-12-23T21:04:00Z")
So, uh, what DOES the song mean, then? Birds play a pretty large role, and there are 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany, but I’m not getting the connection… ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/7 "1999-12-23T23:25:00Z")
Everyone knows that the ten lords a-leaping ran away with the eight maids a-milking. (Leaving either two very frustrated leaping lords, or a couple of menage-a-trois’s.) * * * The truth, as always, is more complicated than that. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 1999, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/8 "1999-12-23T23:33:00Z")
The Drummers and Pipers provide the music, we are only allowing the “lords” decaf so they don’t drop the plates when they wait the tables, and those “ladies” don’t seem to mind table dancing. The maids do great work in the kitchen with beef and assorted poultry. ## We hocked the golden rings to put a down payment on the restaurant/tavern. All in all a good holiday season. ‘This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it.’ cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. ‘Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.’ -C. Dickens ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 1999, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/9 "1999-12-24T01:53:00Z")
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to say 3 french hens were the 3 wise men? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 1999, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/10 "1999-12-24T05:32:00Z")
Even better… 3…Father, Son and Holy Ghost * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 1999, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/11 "1999-12-24T05:52:00Z")
I just want to know what the hell she did with 42 swans and geese. YIKES! ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 1999, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/12 "1999-12-24T06:25:00Z")
She ate them. Had a taste for poultry. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 1999, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-days-of-xmas-and-a-hidden-religion-meaning/5543/13 "1999-12-24T12:43:00Z")
I would like to have a survey as to how many of you prefer “Ladies dancing” and how many prefer “Ladies waiting”. I’ve heard both versions.