HOME |
DINING |
MOVIES |
LIVE SHOWS |
ARTS |
UPCOMING EVENTS
ARCHIVES |
ABOUT |
ADVERTISE |
CONTACT |
DISTRIBUTION
entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
<<
Temples & Tombs (Cummer)
|
Main
|
The Jock (by Tom Weppel)
>>
by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
|
|
|
The Twelve Days of Christmas. This must be one of the most well-known holiday carols. Everybody knows some of the lines and can certainly hum the balance. We all had to sing it every year at school pageants. But have you ever questioned why there are so many birds presented as gifts and wondered why would anyone want those birds as gifts? The gold rings I get, but Turtle Doves, I don’t get.
Let’s look at the birds of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
7 Swans a-swimming
6 Geese a-laying
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
A Partridge in a Pear Tree
|
|
While researching these birds, it was not difficult to find information on swans or geese. But in identifying descriptions for turtle doves, calling birds and French hens, it became difficult to cull down the list of possibilities. That is when I learned this is an Old World song and I stopped looking at birds of North America. I also learned this song has multiple layers of interpretation.
The song originates sometime between 1558 and 1829 during an era in England when the population could not openly practice religious freedoms. On one level, the song is a code or a secret catechism that could be sung in public without fear of persecution. A belief is that the 12 days actually begins with Christmas Day and concludes on the eve of the Day of Epiphany, January 5. In other words, the 12 days span from the birth of Jesus Christ to the arrival of the three wise men. The hypothesis is that elements of the carol are codes for religious realities. Here are some samples:
The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ
Two Turtle doves are the Old and New Testaments
Three French hens represent faith, hope and love
Four calling birds are the four Gospels
Six geese a-laying stand for the six days of creation Seven swans a-swimming are the 7 sacraments
If we focus on the superficial layer of the song and apply some old English to words, we derive some additional variations to birds. Calling birds were colly birds, an old world word used for coal, which could also lead to black birds. As part of the Thrush family of birds, these birds do possess the gift of song.
Turtle doves belong to the same family of birds that includes other doves as well as pigeons. These doves are migratory birds and appear in northern Europe at the end of April and remain until September when they migrate south again. The timing of their arrival heralds in the spring with the sound of their purring song, described as a deep “turr turr”, from which the name is derived.
While French hens held a reputation for superior egg laying ability during winter months, considering the warm and cool cycles to the Anglo-French relationships, specific mention of French hens could have also been a conciliatory gesture to improve that relationship at a low point in the cycle.
It is suggested the partridge in pear tree comes directly from Greek mythology. Perdix was a king in Greek mythology. Both Perdix and the goddess Athena had sacred connections to the pear tree. When Perdix was cast into the ocean, he ascended to heaven as a bird in the arms of Athena. Thus providing one level of definition to the lyric.
Oh, the gold rings. Those rings are also not as they appear on the surface. This is a reference to another bird; possibly the ring-necked pheasant. So the first seven gifts of the twelve days are birds. It’s a birder’s holiday and has been for a very long time.
Happy Birding
Merry Christmas
Joyous Holidays
|
|
