The Twelve Dels of Christmas: My Festive Tales from Life and Only Fools

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In Hawaii, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Hawaiian Style, with the words by Eaton Bob Magoon Jr., Edward Kenny, and Gordon N. Phelps, is popular. It is typically sung by children in concerts with proper gesticulation. [118] [119] The partridge in a pear tree represents Jesus, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on the first day of Christmas. Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge, the only bird that will die to protect its young. The Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian Catholic Church celebrate the Birth and Baptism of Christ on the same day, [12] so that there is no distinction between a feast of Christmas and a feast of Epiphany. Sears put out a special Christmas coloring book with Disney's Winnie-the-Pooh characters in 1973 featuring a version of the carol focusing on Pooh's attempts to get a pot of honey from a hollow honey tree, with each verse ending in "and a hunny pot inna hollow tree".

Caulkins, Mary; Jennie Miller Helderman (2002). Christmas Trivia: 200 Fun & Fascinating Facts About Christmas. New York: Gramercy. ISBN 978-0-517-22070-2. OCLC 49627774. Don't worry if you only take one word from "The 12 Days of Christmas" verse and run with it for your gift. In honor of the song's second line, why not gift a platter of homemade turtle candy? The chocolate shop classic—which consists of chocolate, caramel, and pecans—has been beloved since 1918, so you know it's bound to be a hit with adults and kids alike. Wrap your platter or plate in colorful decorative cellophane, then add a gift tag with "The 12 Days of Christmas" verse.There is a raging debate as to when exactly Twelvetide starts. While some would suggest the first day of Christmas is Christmas Day itself (25th December), the majority see 26th December as day one, meaning magic number 12 falls on the 6th of January; the traditional Christian feast day of Epiphany. It is a common misconception that the Twelve Days of Christmas are the twelve days before Christmas, coinciding with Advent and culminating in Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, however this is incorrect! In fact the Twelve Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day, considered the "First Day of Christmas". The gift of the rings represents the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch. Frank Sinatra and his children, Frank Sinatra Jr., Nancy Sinatra, and Tina Sinatra, included their own version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on their 1968 album, The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas. [96] The Twelve Days" was a Christmas game. It was a customary thing in a friend's house to play "The Twelve Days," or "My Lady's Lap Dog," every Twelfth Day night. The party was usually a mixed gathering of juveniles and adults, mostly relatives, and before supper — that is, before eating mince pies and twelfth cake — this game and the cushion dance were played, and the forfeits consequent upon them always cried. The company were all seated round the room. The leader of the game commenced by saying the first line. [...] The lines for the "first day" of Christmas was said by each of the company in turn; then the first "day" was repeated, with the addition of the "second" by the leader, and then this was said all round the circle in turn. This was continued until the lines for the "twelve days" were said by every player. For every mistake a forfeit — a small article belonging to the person — had to be given up. These forfeits were afterwards "cried" in the usual way, and were not returned to the owner until they had been redeemed by the penalty inflicted being performed. Meanings of the gifts [ edit ] Partridge in a pear tree [ edit ]

A melody, possibly related to the "traditional" melody on which Austin based his arrangement, was recorded in Providence, Rhode Island in 1870 and published in 1905. [78] The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, " Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days are 25 December to 5 January, inclusive, [1] with 6 January being a "thirteenth day" in some traditions and languages. However, 6 January is sometimes considered Twelfth Day/Twelfth Night with the Twelve Days "of" Christmas actually after Christmas Day from 26 December to 6 January. [2] For many Christian denominations—for example, the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Church—the Twelve Days are identical to Christmastide, [3] [4] [5] but for others, e.g. the Roman Catholic Church, Christmastide lasts longer. Festive atmosphere during the Twelve Days of Christmas The Twelve Days of Christmas, also called Christmastide ("Christmas time") and sometimes referred to as Twelvetide, is another name for the festive Christmas season celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a period of celebration, feasting and Saints' Days. It starts on Christmas Day , December 25, and ends on January 5 of the following year, known as Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve. The exact origins and the meaning of the song are unknown, but it is highly probable that it originated from a children's memory and forfeit game. [42] Read more: The Twelve Days of Christmas, composed as a 12-tone masterpiece So...what’s with the lyrics?The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting with Christmas Day to the day before Epiphany (5 January). Twelfth Night is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of January 5th, the day before Epiphany, which traditionally marks the end of Christmas celebrations". [43] Illustration of "Twelve Lords a Leaping", from Mirth Without Mischief Many early sources suggest that The Twelve Days of Christmas was a "memory-and-forfeits" game, in which participants were required to repeat a verse of poetry recited by the leader. Players who made an error were required to pay a penalty, in the form of offering a kiss or confection. [52] A] cry for forfeits arose. So the party sat down round Mabel on benches brought out from under the table, and Mabel began, -- a b Bratcher, Dennis (10 October 2014). "The Christmas Season". Christian Resource Institute . Retrieved 20 December 2014. The Twelve Days of Christmas ... in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th with the following day considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th). In these traditions, the twelve days begin December 26[th] and include Epiphany on January 6[th]. The Adoration of the Magi, Fresco at the Lower Church of the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Assisi, Italy.

In many nations, e. g., the United States, the Solemnity of Epiphany is transferred to the first Sunday after 1 January, which can occur as early as 2 January. That solemnity, then, together with customary observances associated with it, usually occur within the Twelve Days of Christmas, even if these are considered to end on 5 January rather than 6 January. In the famous article The Complexity of Songs, Donald Knuth computes the space complexity of the song as function of the number of days, observing that a hypothetical "The m {\displaystyle m} Days of Christmas" requires a memory space of O ( n / log ⁡ n ) {\displaystyle O\left({\sqrt {n/\log n}}\right)} as m → ∞ {\displaystyle m\to \infty } where n {\displaystyle n} is the length of the song, showing that songs with complexity lower than O ( n ) {\displaystyle O({\sqrt {n}})} indeed exist. Incidentally, it is also observed that the total number of gifts after m {\displaystyle m} days equals m 3 / 6 + m 2 / 2 + m / 3 {\displaystyle m Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for their 1963 album Christmas with The Chipmunks, Vol. 2.

There is evidence pointing to the North of England, specifically the area around Newcastle upon Tyne, as the origin of the carol. Husk, in the 1864 excerpt quoted below, stated that the carol was "found on broadsides printed at Newcastle at various periods during the last hundred and fifty years", i.e. from approximately 1714. In addition, many of the nineteenth century citations come from the Newcastle area. [14] [21] [23] [25] Christmas Day, if it is considered to be part of the Twelve Days of Christmas and not as the day preceding the Twelve Days, [3] is celebrated by Christians as the liturgical feast of the Nativity of the Lord. It is a public holiday in many nations, including some where the majority of the population is not Christian. On this see the articles on Christmas and Christmas traditions.

Who gets their true love 8 maids [who are] milking [a cow]? and where do you even get eight milkmaids from? Are they there by choice? Do we need to call the police? Irish actor Frank Kelly recorded "Christmas Countdown" in 1982 in which a man named Gobnait O'Lúnasa receives the 12 Christmas gifts referenced in the song from a lady named Nuala. As each gift is received, Gobnait gets increasingly upset with the person who sent them, as said gifts wreak havoc in the house where he lives with his mother. This version charted in both Ireland (where it reached number 8 in 1982) and the UK (entering the UK chart in December 1983 and reaching number 26). [110] [111] The song peaked at number 15 in Australia in 1984. [112] The Ray Conniff Singers recorded a traditional version in 1962, appearing on the album We Wish You a Merry Christmas. and continues like this for every of the twelve days, adding a new gift in every verse and repeating and accumulating the already received gifts.The Twelve Days of Christmas - The King's Singers and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir When are the twelve days of Christmas? HumorMatters.com Twelve Days of Christmas (reprint of a magazine article). Retrieved 3 January 2011.