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| A 16th-Century Carol |
| If you think "The 12 Days of Christmas" is just a song, think again. |
| by Father James Gilhooley |
| No less an authority than the New York Times has pronounced that the Christmas carol "The 12 Days Of Christmas" is much ado about nothing! |
| But...are you ready? (Even the great New York Times nods.) |
| In the record books, this seasonal favorite belongs to the author unknown category. Yet, longtime speculation has it that Jesuits authored "The 12 Days of Christmas" in the 16th century. |
| In those days, Catholics in England were prohibited from practicing their faith, so they went underground. There arose a desperate need to teach the young on the sly. The accommodating Jesuits jumped in and penned a children's catechism in song and code. |
| To the Elizabethan FBI, "The 12 Days of Christmas" was nothing but a carol with a pretty melody and nonsense words. But to Catholic kids, it was quite another ball of Christmas snow. |
| "The 12 Days of Christmas" salutes the Nativity celebration which opens on Christmas and closes 12 days later on the Epiphany. |
| "My true love" is God. "Me" is each Catholic. |
| "Twelve drummers drumming" are not the apostles, as you might think, but the 12 beliefs of the Church as outlined in the Apostles' Creed. |
| If you have guessed "11 pipers piping and 10 lords a-leaping" are the apostles after Judas checked out, as well as the Ten Commandments, you are already breaking the code. |
| The "nine ladies dancing" are the nine angelic choirs. The "eight maids-a-milking" are the eight beatitudes. |
| The "seven swans-a-swimming" are the sacraments, of course, and the "six geese-a-laying" are the six days of creation. For the "five golden rings," would you accept the first five books of the Old Testament--the Pentateuch? |
| The "four calling birds" are a give-away--the Gospels. For the "three French hens," how about the gifts of the wise men? If you price French hens at your friendly neighborhood butcher, you will understand why. "Two turtle doves" suggest the Old and New Testaments. |
| And "the partridge in a pear tree, of course, is the cross through which we were saved. |
| Resourceful fellows, those Jesuits, n'est-ce pas? They even fooled the New York Times. |
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