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The Twelve Days of Christmas

The twelve days of Christmas begin on Christmas day and end on January 6^th, the feast of the Epiphany. As the days are counted from the evening before, Twelfth Night is the evening of the 5^th.

There are different traditions as to the day on which presents are given, but all fall somewhere in this period, which in Northern Europe has always been a time of light, fire, food, drink ,music ,song, dance and an exchange of gifts; a celebration of life and joy in the deepest cold and dark of winter.

This ancient pagan tradition was transformed by the early church into a Christian festival, but all the old elements are still intact.

Although the full celebration of this period has largely lapsed, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and the custom of taking down the decorations on that day, remain.

This carol was first published in England in 1780, but may well have been French in origin. One of its oddities is that one part of the melody, the ‘five gold rings’ riff, composed by Frederic Austin, is still in copyright. This version has found its own solution to this problem.

It may well have been a Twelfth Night memory and forfeits game, in which each player had to sing the ever -lengthening list until someone made a mistake, and paid for their failure with a kiss.

The original version, in which ‘calling’ birds are colly or blackbirds, and the five gold rings ring-necked pheasants, would perhaps suggest that all are sent as dishes for a feast, with milk for puddings, at which lords and ladies dance and leap to the music of drums and pipes. This makes the song more logical but less fun.

This light-hearted version is enjoying itself too much to make any serious points about the carol at all.