# origin of '12 days of Christmas'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 1999, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-12-days-of-christmas/5611 "1999-12-28T17:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![c-man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@c-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c-man)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-12-days-of-christmas/5611/1 "1999-12-28T17:32:00Z")
Don’t know if this has been answered before, but… Are there any facts pointing to the **true** origin of the song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ and its unusual gifts? I have found a lame explanation (my opinion) [here]([http://www.members.carol.net/~asmsmsks/12days.htm#The](http://www.members.carol.net/~asmsmsks/12days.htm#The) 12 Days of Christmas -). I find this explanation hard to believe. It cites a newspaper as a source, but its web archives don’t contain the article. Another different explanation can be found [here](http://www.bconnex.net/~mbuchana/realms/christmas/origindx.html#twelve) but this explanation is short and vague. So what is the true origin of this song? ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-12-days-of-christmas/5611/2 "1999-12-28T17:53:00Z")
The allegory theory does seem a bit weak. (ten lords a-leaping = the Ten Commandments?) Such an exercise would only confuse it’s intended audience (illiterate, mideval children). The “wealthy castles” theory makes a lot more sense. If you’ve read anything about royal celebrations and feasts in mideval Europe, none of the gifts seem too outrageous. ---
**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 29, 1999, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-12-days-of-christmas/5611/3 "1999-12-29T06:06:00Z")
I had always taken it as a typical English counting song. One might as well try to find the “meaning” of _Green Grow the Rushes, Oh!_ ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-12-days-of-christmas/5611/4 "1999-12-28T19:02:00Z")
check out snopes: [http://www.snopes.com/holidays/xmas/12days.htm](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/xmas/12days.htm) ---
**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 28, 1999, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-12-days-of-christmas/5611/5 "1999-12-28T19:02:00Z")
See [http://www.snopes.com/holidays/xmax/12days.htm](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/xmax/12days.htm) for details. For people that don’t want to click are read, here’s the summary: 12 days of Xmas are from 12/26 to 1/06 (Ephipany). “12 Days” the song are a type of memory song, where a person starts singing a song, the next person adds a line, the next another line, and so on. This is similar to “There Was An Old Lady” (the one that swallowed a spider, etc.), or kind of like “This Old Man.” In the original version, the first 7 gifts were all birds. Over time, the 5 gift has changed from 5 gold rings (gold-ringed pheasants, that is) to 5 goldEN rings. The “hidden Christian symbol” story is an incredible line of bullshit that 10 minutes of thinking should be able to dismiss. Snopes does a very thorough job of demolition.