The Twelve Days of Christmas

So what are the twelve days of Christmas. I for one didn't know until I looked into it. Basically they the 12 days running from Christmas until the 6th of January, which is Epiphany. It was tradition that said that it took the tree Magi 12 days to reach the baby Jesus. Thus they would have arrived on the 6th of January. In reality it probably took much longer. So those are the tweove days of Christmas

So what does the song have to do with these days. The song was composed in England by Catholic priests during a time in which they were being persucted by the Protastnat mocarchs. It was used to teach and remind children about their faith. Each day represented one tenent of thier faith. So this is what the poems was teaching:

• The True Love mentioned in the song is God
• The one that recieves the gifts is anyone who has accepted Jesus as his Lord and saviour
• The First Day: The Partirige in a pear tree represents Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate on the first day of Christmas.
• The Second Day: The two turtle doves are the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
• The Third Day: The three french hens represent faith, love and hope. It also represents the three gifts presented by the Magi to the Lord Jesus (gold, frakincese and myrrh).
• The Fourth Day: The four calling birds are the four Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.
• The Fifth Day: The five gold rings are the first five books of the Old Testament. They were also known as the "Law of Moses".
• The Sixth Day: The six geese a-laying goes back to the Creation Story. Each egg represents one of the six days God took to create the world.
• The Seventh Day: The seven swans are the spritual gifts God has given us. These are: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading and compassion.
• The Eighth Day: The eight maids of milking are blessed who would recieve His Word. These included the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteuousness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peace makers and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
• The Ninth Day: The nine ladies dancing are the gifts known as the fruit of the spirit. These fruits are love, joy,peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
• The Tenth Day: The ten lords a leaping represents the Ten Commandments.
• The Eleventh Day: The eleven pipers piping are Jesus' Disciples. Why there isn't twelve? This is because in the end Judas betrayed Jesus, so that left eleven men to cary out the gopel message.
• The Twelfth Day: The twelve drummers drumming are the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed. This is: "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and obrn of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was burried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and i seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the foregiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting."

So you can see there really is twelve days of Christmas and this poem is a very good teaching tool. 'Till next time.- THE GREAT ONE