The Twelve Days of Christmas, or Get Your Jollies

by Sarah Loyd
Austin Citysphere Contributor

We've all sung "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but have you ever thought about the song? Why do they celebrate twelve days? And where do all of those birds fit in to the equation?

The twelve days mentioned in the song almost certainly represent the season called "Christmastide," generally understood to mean the liturgical season lasting from Christmas Day on December 25th until Epiphany Eve on January 5th, also known as "Twelfth Night." The next day, January 6th, is Epiphany, which begins a new season in the church liturgical calendar. The twelve day long celebration comes from an old Germanic winter festival called "Yuletide" that was originally a pagan celebration but was later absorbed into the Christian holiday of Christmas. The word "Yule" is believed to have descended from an Old Norse word, Jol, which means something like "magic" or "feast of entreaty" and is also the ancestor of our modern adjective "jolly."

The Twelve Days themselves were a time of continuous feasting and celebration in the Middle Ages, and were brought over to colonial America from England. The colonists modified the celebrations over the years, and the Christmas wreath is believed to have come from the tradition of hanging a wreath made of greenery and local fruits on the door beginning on Christmas Day and taking it down on Twelfth Night, eating the fruit as part of the feast. The Christmas decorations would be taken down that night as well, following the English tradition, and it was considered bad luck to leave the decorations up past then. (I guess we would have had really bad luck this year, considering that we left our own Christmas tree up until about March.)

These days in the United States, the Twelve Days of Christmas have largely been forgotten as Christmas has become more commercialized and Santa Claus has become more of the centerpiece of the holiday for many people. However, some people still adhere to a practice of giving gifts for each of the twelve nights (perhaps they are trying to upstage celebrants of Hanukkah, with only eight nights).

As for the song, its origins are actually French rather than English, although it's usually considered an English Christmas carol. It may have started as a Twelfth Night "memories and forfeits" game, in which the leader of the game added a verse and whoever messed up the responses had to give up something like a kiss or a treat. It was presented this way in the earliest printed version of the song, in 1780.

It's generally believed that the first seven gifts of birds were part of the feast. Wait, first seven? Aren't there five golden rings in there? The rings actually refer to ring-necked pheasants, rather than golden rings for fingers. Too bad, jewelry hunters.

So, if you wanted to get your jollies and give your true love all of the gifts mentioned in this old song, would you be able to do it in Texas?

• A partridge in a pear tree? Yes! The Common American Partridge was said to be numerous in Texas by John James Audubon. And according to Texas A&M, finding pears will be no problem.
• Two turtle doves? Yes! Ringed turtle doves have been observed near Katy, Texas and the Carolina turtle dove breeds in Texas. So there's not only two turtle doves, but two different kind of turtle doves.
• Three French hens? I don't know about French hens, but there's certainly no shortage of chickens, and the French have no shortage of ways to prepare them. Just don't make Coq au Vin, because those aren't hens. Texas was also home to the famous Chicken Ranch, of course.
• Four calling birds? The calling birds of the song were actually "colly birds," or "coal-colored birds." So basically, they were blackbirds. The Great-tailed Grackle is probably the best candidate in Texas, although they are so annoying (especially this time of year) that they would hardly be a good gift.
• Five golden rings? As we've already discussed, these actually refer to ring-necked pheasants, which are popular for hunting here in Texas.
• Six geese a-laying? They probably wouldn't live that long, as they are also hunted, mainly east of the I-35 corridor. You can apparently buy a pair of breeding geese, though, if you have the money.
  
• Seven swans a-swimming? At the same place as the geese, they sell breeding swans, but it will cost you - a pair of trumpeter swans sells for $2,000.
• Eight maids a-milking? Not just milking - women are evidently doing a lot for the Texas dairy industry.
• Nine ladies dancing? I'm sure you can find all sorts of ladies dancing all over the state, in any number of honky tonks, ballet companies, or even, ahem, gentlemen's clubs.
• Ten lords a-leaping? No lords here, but there is a lot of leaping and jumping going on here. And you may recall that former President George H. W. Bush tends to skydive occasionally at Skydive Aggieland, where a friend of mine happens to be an instructor.
• As for eleven drummers drumming and twelve pipers piping, let's just say... the Eyes of Texas Are Upon You.

Phew. That's a lot of stuff, but Texas has all of it. And of course, we have our own version as well.