The Twelve Days of Christmas

The Faith hidden in song

Published on December 20, 2011 By lulapilgrim In Religion

Catholics in England were forbidden to practice their faith openly during the years from 1538 to 1829. This song was developed to communicate their gift of faith in coded lyrics. The 12 days run from December 25 (Christmas) to January 6 (Epiphany). The "true Love" refers to God. The repetition of the melody signifies God's continual renewal of His gifts.

A Partridge is the symbol of Christ. The partridge will feign injury to protect nestlings who are defenseless just as we are before Satan without Christ. A pear Tree is a symbol of the salvation of humanity, just as the apple tree signifies human downfall.

Two Turtle Doves symbolize the Old Testament sacrifice offered by even the poorest of people in Israel (with which Christ was "redeemed" by His parents at His presentation in the Temple).

Three French Hens, valued for their beauty and rarity, symbolize the gifts of the Three Wise Men, as also the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.

Four Calling Birds represent the four major prophets and the four Evangelists, the former announcing Christ's coming and the latter proclaiming His message.

Five Golden Rings represent first and foremost the five most precious Crucifixial Wounds of Christ (to which there had long been great devotion and thus the reason for the change in the melody at this point), as also the perfect circle of faith: God's love for us, our love for God, and our love for each other. The number five refers as well to the five obligatory sacraments (Baptism, Penance, the Holy Eucharist, Confirmation and Extreme Unction) as also to the five books of the Bible which make up the Pentateuch, aslo known as the Law, in the Old Testament.

Six Geese A-laying represent the six days of Creation.

Seven Swans A-swimming are the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost and the Seven Works of Mercy (there are seven works of Corporal Mercy and seven works of Spiritual Mercy).

Eight Maids A-milking are the eight Beatitudes preached by Christ in the Sermon of the Mount, as well as the eight occasions during the years that were prescribed at that time for the reception of the Holy Eucharist.

Nine Ladies Dancing are the nine ranks of angel choirs, the Spirits who surround the Throne of God.

Ten Lords A-leaping represent the Ten Commandments.

Eleven Pipers Playing are the eleven surviving Apostles proclaiming the Resurrection of Jesus.

Twelve Drummers Drumming are the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament and the twelve points of the Apostles' Creed. They symbolize also the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Twelve Apostles, their number being restored after Pentecost, as also the twelve Fruits of the Holy Ghost, who came down at Pentecost. Twelve also is the spiritual number representing completeness and fairness.

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Gerard van Honthorst, 1622

Comments (Page 1)

lulapilgrim

on Dec 20, 2011

To all my fellow JUsers,

This brings a prayer that you have a Blessed and Merry Christmas and God's Blessings all through the New Year.

ExpressoKid

on Oct 19, 2012

Keep in mind that Christianity stole the X-mas event from the Pagans and altered it, and gave themselves credit for the whole thing. There is nothing holy about anything Christian, and Christianity has never ever respected what is considered holy by other cultures/religions.

Respect and tolerance is earned - and Christianity still need to prove itself in order to be tolerated and respected...

Jythier

on Oct 19, 2012

Why do you think we don't know where the holidays come from? You are worried about unimportant things. The important thing is that we celebrate our savior being born. That we celebrate our savior rising from the dead. That we remember. Some Christians refuse to celebrate the holiday for the exact reasons you state, and that's fine, as long as they remember Christ. I choose to celebrate on those days with other Christians around me, because it's a tradition.

ExpressoKid

on Oct 19, 2012

Jythier

reply 3

Unimportant things? Christians portray themselves as oh-so-holy, yet they deceive and steal from other religions and cultures... Leave the pagans alone! Remove your churces from pagan holy grounds. Christians have been pissing off territory where ever they went, destroyed cultural artifacts, burned scriptures of other civilizations and so on. What you celebrate is the greatness of Christian ability to destroy - not anything else. Your events are simply repeated to make sure that the territory you stole is constantly being marked.

I can make a tradition of hunting down Christians, hog-tie them and exhibit them on poles. Since its a "tradition" - it must be right to do, right?

Jythier

on Oct 19, 2012

ExpressoKid

reply 4

Quoting Jythier, reply 3Why do you think we don't know where the holidays come from? You are worried about unimportant things. The important thing is that we celebrate our savior being born. That we celebrate our savior rising from the dead. That we remember. Some Christians refuse to celebrate the holiday for the exact reasons you state, and that's fine, as long as they remember Christ. I choose to celebrate on those days with other Christians around me, because it's a tradition.

Unimportant things? Christians portray themselves as oh-so-holy, yet they deceive and steal from other religions and cultures... Leave the pagans alone! Remove your churces from pagan holy grounds. Christians have been pissing off territory where ever they went, destroyed cultural artifacts, burned scriptures of other civilizations and so on. What you celebrate is the greatness of Christian ability to destroy - not anything else. Your events are simply repeated to make sure that the territory you stole is constantly being marked.

I can make a tradition of hunting down Christians, hog-tie them and exhibit them on poles. Since its a "tradition" - it must be right to do, right?

You just compared celebrating Christmas to murder.

lulapilgrim

on Oct 19, 2012

Expressokid,

Welcome to JU.

ExpressoKid

reply 2

Keep in mind that Christianity stole the X-mas event from the Pagans and altered it, and gave themselves credit for the whole thing.

Ooooh... the war against Christmas has come early this year....before the Halloween event, now that's been paganized.

Your mistaken assertion indicates that you don't know much about Christianity.

The Old Testament prophet Isaias, born in 760 BC, predicted a very definite and new form of religion to be given by Our Lord Christ Himself. 2:2-4

Christmas is Catholic in name and origin. The word Christmas comes from "Christ" and "Mass". The feast is so called because on that day the Mass commemorating the birth of Christ is said.

In the Catholic Church, the suffix "mas" is preceded by the name of the person in whose honor for which the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass is offered to Almighty God. The feast at which the candles are blest is called Candlemas; the feast of St.Michael is called Michaelmas; and the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord is called Christmas.

During the first centuries Christmas was entirely an in-Church celebration, but the date of the Nativity of Christ was celebrated on December 25th by the Catholic Church in the year 300 AD. In the middle of the 4th century, the Pope introduced three Masses celebrated in honor of the glorious festivity and it's been that way ever since. One Mass at midnight, one at dawn and the other in in the hours of the day. Those were the days when Christmas was exclusively Catholic, in name, in spirit and in fact.

The popularizing of this Catholic holy-day among non-Catholics has transformed Christmas into a holiday.

ExpressoKid

on Oct 20, 2012

Jythier

reply 5

Quoting ExpressoKid, reply 4
Quoting Jythier, reply 3Why do you think we don't know where the holidays come from? You are worried about unimportant things. The important thing is that we celebrate our savior being born. That we celebrate our savior rising from the dead. That we remember. Some Christians refuse to celebrate the holiday for the exact reasons you state, and that's fine, as long as they remember Christ. I choose to celebrate on those days with other Christians around me, because it's a tradition.

Unimportant things? Christians portray themselves as oh-so-holy, yet they deceive and steal from other religions and cultures... Leave the pagans alone! Remove your churces from pagan holy grounds. Christians have been pissing off territory where ever they went, destroyed cultural artifacts, burned scriptures of other civilizations and so on. What you celebrate is the greatness of Christian ability to destroy - not anything else. Your events are simply repeated to make sure that the territory you stole is constantly being marked.

I can make a tradition of hunting down Christians, hog-tie them and exhibit them on poles. Since its a "tradition" - it must be right to do, right?

You just compared celebrating Christmas to murder.

The christian celebration of christmas IS celebrating murder. Christianity is, after all, a blood-cult.

ExpressoKid

on Oct 20, 2012

lulapilgrim

reply 6

Expressokid,

Welcome to JU.

Quoting ExpressoKid, reply 2Keep in mind that Christianity stole the X-mas event from the Pagans and altered it, and gave themselves credit for the whole thing.

Ooooh... the war against Christmas has come early this year....before the Halloween event, now that's been paganized.

Your mistaken assertion indicates that you don't know much about Christianity.

The Old Testament prophet Isaias, born in 760 BC, predicted a very definite and new form of religion to be given by Our Lord Christ Himself. 2:2-4

The correct sense of that passage is that when the Christ shall come, He will solidly establish the religion of God and all nations will be represented amongst its members. And they will learn from it the ways of God and will walk in His paths under its guidance. This promised religion will originate in Jerusalem. Now, we find that the Christ came over 2,000 years ago and fulfilled this prophecy. He established a Church and prescribed its doctrines. He sent that Church no longer to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles (non-Jews)and commissioned it to go forth from Jerusalem teaching all men to observe all things He had commanded. He gave His Church His authority to teach and preach to all nations all days until the end of the world. He promised the gates of Hell will not prevail against it and that He would be with it until the end of the world. All this indicates a very definite religion and a very definite Church. That very definite religion is Christianity and that very definite Church is the Catholic Church.

Christmas is Catholic in name and origin. The word Christmas comes from "Christ" and "Mass". The feast is so called because on that day the Mass commemorating the birth of Christ is said.

In the Catholic Church, the suffix "mas" is preceded by the name of the person in whose honor for which the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass is offered to Almighty God. The feast at which the candles are blest is called Candlemas; the feast of St.Michael is called Michaelmas; and the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord is called Christmas.

During the first centuries Christmas was entirely an in-Church celebration, but the date of the Nativity of Christ was celebrated on December 25th by the Catholic Church in the year 300 AD. In the middle of the 4th century, the Pope introduced three Masses celebrated in honor of the glorious festivity and it's been that way ever since. One Mass at midnight, one at dawn and the other in in the hours of the day. Those were the days when Christmas was exclusively Catholic, in name, in spirit and in fact.

The popularizing of this Catholic holy-day among non-Catholics has transformed Christmas into a holiday.

"The correct sense of the passage" according to whom? In how many ways can the passage be twisted and turned? Whom truly know the "correct" interpretation? Which present another problem. Why couldn't the Christian god present his worshipers with a book himself that could not be move, not be hidden, was always public, would never decay and could not be changed in?

Catholics are Christians - dixi. There is no difference. Christianity is christianity no matter what horrifying mask is added to the branch.

The original pagan event was celebrated long before Christianity was invented. That Christianity allowed itself to ignore the freedom of other cultures and individuals, and in the same breath justify to steal events from those people, is just an indication why Christianity is so dangerous to the freedom of every single person on this planet.

By the way - you can't use the old testament - if you do, you will have to accept killing homosexuals as well. You cannot just pick and choose as you see fit. Do you kill homosexuals?

In any case, I still see religious justification of invading other cultures, which is a hostile action. Hostility should always be met with resistance.

Jythier

on Oct 21, 2012

Saving people from hell is hostility times ten.

lulapilgrim

on Oct 22, 2012

lulapilgrim

reply 6

The Old Testament prophet Isaias, born in 760 BC, predicted a very definite and new form of religion to be given by Our Lord Christ Himself. 2:2-4

The correct sense of that passage is that when the Christ shall come, He will solidly establish the religion of God and all nations will be represented amongst its members. And they will learn from it the ways of God and will walk in His paths under its guidance. This promised religion will originate in Jerusalem. Now, we find that the Christ came over 2,000 years ago and fulfilled this prophecy. He established a Church and prescribed its doctrines. He sent that Church no longer to the Jews only, but also to the Gentiles (non-Jews)and commissioned it to go forth from Jerusalem teaching all men to observe all things He had commanded. He gave His Church His authority to teach and preach to all nations all days until the end of the world. He promised the gates of Hell will not prevail against it and that He would be with it until the end of the world. All this indicates a very definite religion and a very definite Church. That very definite religion is Christianity and that very definite Church is the Catholic Church.

Christmas is Catholic in name and origin. The word Christmas comes from "Christ" and "Mass". The feast is so called because on that day the Mass commemorating the birth of Christ is said.

In the Catholic Church, the suffix "mas" is preceded by the name of the person in whose honor for which the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass is offered to Almighty God. The feast at which the candles are blest is called Candlemas; the feast of St.Michael is called Michaelmas; and the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord is called Christmas.

During the first centuries Christmas was entirely an in-Church celebration, but the date of the Nativity of Christ was celebrated on December 25th by the Catholic Church in the year 300 AD. In the middle of the 4th century, the Pope introduced three Masses celebrated in honor of the glorious festivity and it's been that way ever since. One Mass at midnight, one at dawn and the other in in the hours of the day. Those were the days when Christmas was exclusively Catholic, in name, in spirit and in fact.

ExpressoKid

reply 8

"The correct sense of the passage" according to whom?

According to reason and history. Christmas is a fact of history. In a point of time and at a definable place the God of Heaven and Earth was born of a woman, and came to live among us as man. Our Lord Jesus Christ's one true Christian religion is a fact of history. That He established a living Church to teach, sanctify and govern with His authority is a fact of history.

Christmas is not an isolated historical event like the birth of a president. It is a historical watershed that has separated mankind from his pagan ways.

Jythier

on Oct 22, 2012

The Catholic church has long since abandoned that authority, though.

GirlFriendTess

on Oct 22, 2012

Jythier

reply 3

Why do you think we don't know where the holidays come from?

Because you don't??? None of you religious folk or your churches have any idea at all when Jesus was supposed to have been born, but Dec 25 was decided upon in Rome in the early 4th century. The church calendar in Rome contained Christmas on December 25 and other holidays placed on solar dates: It is cosmic symbolism...which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the southern solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the northern solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception (paganism). While they were aware that pagans themselves called this day the 'birthday' of Sol Invictus, this did not concern them and it did not play any role in their choice of date for Christmas"

Jythier

on Oct 22, 2012

No, we do know where they come from, we just don't care because it's not important.

Not only do I know about Christianity, I also have looked at Islam, Liberation Theology, Budhhism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Scientology, and some others, though some more or less strenuously.

I find it hilarious that you think that we believe in Christianity only because we don't know that the holidays were chosen for cosmic symbolism dates. It really doesn't matter which day we celebrate Christ.

GirlFriendTess

on Oct 22, 2012

Jythier

reply 13

No, we do know where they come from, we just don't care because it's not important.

Obviously, of what import is the truth now when you have all that un-substantiated faith to rely on. Wouldn't want to ruin a perfect track record with reality would you. I just thought you might want to learn something for a change, sorry for the inconvenience. I just stated some simple known facts and you just stated that you don’t care. Yet you continue to bitch and accuse … concerning those things you ‘don’t care about.

Jythier

reply 13

Not only do I know about Christianity, I also have looked at Islam, Liberation Theology, Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Scientology, and some others, though some more or less strenuously.

That so ... how did you manage that with your Christian-only computer unable to even review a competing view, let alone a hostile one, just wondering? All you have to do is remove the CGL (Christian-god-lock) from your computer (it is your computer right?) and then you could actually see for yourself where the rest of the world is coming from. I believe this to be another crock from a desperate man trying to maintain his magical world in spite of reality. What methodology did you use to prove to yourself that the Islamic god (all the gods) doesn't exist because inquiring minds want to know?

Jythier

reply 13

What in the world are you rambling about here. I have no idea at all why you wish to don the Christian label because if I knew I would be working on an antidote. You seem to spend a lot of time telling me what I think and believe and what I mean which seems pointless because you do not seem capable of reading and comprehending what I say. So you just make this nonsense up … speak it … so it must be true, get a life. When you submerge yourself into someone else’s world view, YOU have to live that life not I. This place where you hang your brain out to dry every day must be a wondrous place. A breading ground of compassion, love and righteousness or something like that but unless you and another drinker are patting yourselves on the back, you are a miserable person. You seem to hate everyone, everything and every thought not already under the Christian yoke. No other religion is right regardless of the fact that you can prove nothing about your own. This of course is not a problem for me as I view them all equally.

lulapilgrim

on Oct 22, 2012

Jythier

reply 11

The Catholic church has long since abandoned that authority, though.

Not so. As successors in an continual unbroken line from St.Peter, the Pope and the Bishops in union with him have not abandoned that Divinely given authority....they couldn't for this is the provision made for His Church by the wisdom of Christ. And such an authority is the reason for the success of the Catholic Church in bringing souls to Christ which is its chief mission.

And you should understand this....

Not only did the Apostles and their lawful successors have authority, Christ gave them powers..to sanctify (St.Matt. 28:19 to forgive sin, (St.John 20:23), and the power to govern, "He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you, rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me." St. Luke 10:16 and "Whatever you bind on earth shall also be bound in Heaven." St.Matt. 18:18.

They have power to offer sacrifice ....when at the Last Supper Christ, after instituting the Holy Eucharist (This is My Body...This is My Blood..", bade them to "Do this in remembrance of Me. 1Cor. 11:24-25.

The Pope and Bishops in union with him still have that Divinely given authority to teach, sanctify and govern in His name, and they still have those powers...they still exercise them too!

Finally, Christ promised to remain for all time with the CHurch He established. If the teachings and commands of Our Lord were to do good only to a few persons living in Judea, the merits would have been very limited. But they could do good for future generations until the end of the world only if there were a visible Society with His authority to carry on His teachings and preserve them from all change. This is His Church and one true religion.

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