On the First Day of Christmas....

[DjCiD]

Usually I don't do the FWD: FWD: FWD types of emails but this one caught my eye, and am wondering the validity of its claims.

I find it rather intriguing...

There is one Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. Have you ever wondered about THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS?

What in the world do leaping lords, french hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?

Today, I found out. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the children could remember.

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

Two turtledoves were the Old and New Testaments

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke &

John.

The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of The Old Testament.

The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit:

[GUNWOUNDS]

i think someone just took the numbers 1-12 and found a significant match for those numbers in the bible.

I am sure you could find significant numbers for numbers 13-100 as well.

[Tako]

I don't think zo most are around the number 3, 10 or 11 I recal

[Khan]

3 is a magic number.

[Dante]

So is the number seven. And the number nine. And the numbers twelve, eight, five, six, thirteen, twenty one, and six hundred and sixty six; depending on who you want to believe. And Catholicism wasn't banned for that long... James II was Catholic, for a start...

[DjCiD]

[Dante]

What a nauseating story...

[nemafakei]

I think it just goes to prove what a load of waffle certain commentators use when talking about things like religious significance, such as 'this chapel was conscienciously designed, look three arches for the trinity, four for the gospels' and so forth.