Ilove Christmas. I love everything about it, but one of my favorite things is the 12 Days of Christmas. I enjoy the original song as is, but people have added so many new elements to it, it’s like finding a new spark of joy each year.
I have seen videos of groups and individuals acting out the 12 Days of Christmas, which is both hilarious and enjoyable. As a teacher, I used to have my students figure out the current cost of each item, then multiply each item based on how many the ‘true love’ gifted, and come up with a total bill for the 12 Days of Christmas. It was a process that both surprised and frustrated my students, but overall, it was fun. Plus there are numerous children’s books and parodies that have been written that follow the 12 Days of Christmas format.
Even now, my school does a 12 Days of Christmas countdown to break where each day brings some new fun activity for the staff. And several radio stations, or online platforms do a 12 days of giveaways to promote their business, but also the holiday spirit.
After considering all of these things, I decided to do some research and figure out what this song was all about. I mean, I don’t really want my true love to give me eight maids-a-milking, and I doubt people wanted that as a gift back in the 1700’s when the song was written. So what is this song about? There is a popular theory spread around the internet that the song has symbolic meaning to Christianity. And while I love the creativity, and it seems to make sense, my research says otherwise. The 12 Days of Christmas was not written as a symbol of Christianity. Instead it started as a memory game. At Christmas parties, someone would start with a partridge in a pear tree, (or any single item). Then the next person would chime in with two items and have to repeat the first. The next person would come up with three items, and would have to repeat the second and the first, and so on. The game would continue until someone made a mistake. That person would be ‘punished’ by losing a shoe or having to do a silly action. And the game would start over. As the game gained popularity, the items called out became more uniformed, and people started writing down the twelve items. That is why early versions of the song have slight variations.
So here is what I want to see. I love the idea of the 12 Days of Christmas as a game, but let’s make it our own. Try playing it with your family and friends, but instead of a partridge in a pear tree, say whatever you want. Perhaps, ‘a gingerbread house made for me’, ‘two fuzzy slippers, ‘three candy canes’, etc. The sillier the better, in my opinion. Who knows, maybe we can start a new holiday tradition.
