The Twelve Days of Christmas

Depending on your mood and who's singing, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" can either be great fun or an exasperating exercise in tedium. It is an excellent example of a "cumulative song," that is to say a song whose verses become longer by adding new lyrics to the previous lyrics.  The verses become absurdly long as lyrics are repeated over and over. . . and over.

The eponymous "twelve days" refer to the twelve days of celebration from Christmas to the Epiphany on January 6. This elongated Christmas feast began as 8 days of Christmas celebration in the 6th Century by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.  Three centuries later it was extended to 12 days by England's Alfred the Great.  The feasting for twelve days fell in and out of favor during the many English revolutions and restorations, but this song remains a tenuous connection to ancient customs and perhaps the first Christmas wish list.

The lyrics were first published in 1780 in an English book called Mirth Without Mischief. The lyrics have been sung to different music through the years, but the music that has become accepted as the standard was arranged by Frederick Austin, an English composer, just over a hundred years ago in 1909.  For certain, Austin used a popular folk melody, but he made an important adaptation.  It was his idea to give special attention to the "five gold rings" by elongating the music that accompanies that particular gift. I couldn't say what inspired this, but I think it is the most important element with respects to increasing the fun factor.

For as much as I enjoy the song, there was something peculiar about it that used to irritate me, and eventually compelled me to embark on this project writing about Christmas carols.  I was annoyed that the lyrics varied from source to source.  As a kid, I couldn't wrap my head around this and I wanted to know why there was a discrepancy from one edition to another.

 Here are my major complaints:  First and foremost, while the gifts from the first day through the eighth day are consistent, the order in which the last 4 gifts are proffered differs widely.  You never can tell whether you'll have 9 ladies dancing or 9 drummers drumming.  The chaos is unacceptable. It seems to me this should have been resolved hundreds of years ago, but alas Christmas carols are nothing if not mutable.

Also there seems to be some discrepancy about the type of bird given on the fourth day.  I grew up singing "four calling birds," but apparently, they should be four "colly" birds.  A modest amount of research suggests that "colly" birds were the original gift.  The colly is a black bird known for both its sweet chirping and delicious taste.  Colly bird was presumably served during the twelve day feast.  It is too bad our ancestors didn't use the even more rare and delicious ortolan (four ortolans, three french hens, two turtledoves etc.).  Perhaps the ortolan was represented in a French version.  In any event, four colly birds, not calling birds, is the proper gift for the fourth day.

Finally, there is a discrepancy for the gift on the fifth day.  Sometimes five gold rings are presented, but at other times, they are five golden rings.  Big difference.  If given the choice, I'll take gold rings over golden ones.

There is an interesting story about the "secret" meaning of the lyrics.  A Hugh D. McKellar wrote an article in 1979 about how the gifts of the twelve days were actually code for various aspects of the Roman Catholic catechism.  He claimed the code was devised to instruct Catholics in secret during times of persecution.  That is an intriguing story, unfortunately one without any merit.  McKellar never offered any support of this bizarre claim, because there is none to be had.  Eventually, McKellar copped to inventing the entire story.  Even though this is a complete fabrication, the story has been repeated and republished many times over and eagerly, if not regrettably, accepted by the credulous.

I think the song is interesting enough without fictitious embellishments about Catholic persecution.   It remains an important part of Christmas celebrations both secular and religious and a whimsical connection to our ancient traditions.

Here are the lyrics to the song as set forth by Frederick Austin in 1909.  Spoiler alert:  Austin prefers the calling birds.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a-leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five gold rings
Four calling birds
Three french hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree

In case you live in a cave and never heard this song, enjoy the following clip featuring Leonard Bernstein, The New York Philharmonic and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  The recording was produced by A&P Supermarkets and was presumably offered as a bonus for purchasing let's say a case of Underwood's Deviled Ham.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fog-nbJlW-w 

The following sources were referenced in writing this post:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)

Twelve Days of Christmas A Celebration and History; Grant Leigh, published by Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, New York 1995

c. Martin Blanco December 2015