[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Question, pear trees, lords leaping, hens laying etc.
- From: Pinehillgsds@xxxxxxx
- To: lfossland@xxxxxxx, edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:53:56 EST
In a message dated 12/21/2007 10:49:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
lfossland@xxxxxxx writes:
I am with you, Ed, I don't even know what a partridge looks like. It must be
a bird. But why does he sit in a pear tree? There are no pears nor leaves on
the tree in the winter.
Anyone who has gone to Catholic school knows things are always memorized in
#s (so many mysteries, so many mortal sins, etc.). Every year our family
visits a historic Bucks County PA town where shop windows are decorated for
the
12 days of Christmas and since we only really think about the corresponding
numbers once a year, (we're well beyond the age where we'd be scolded by a
priest for forgetting, lol!), now we stumble over remembering what it all
means,
but here's the history of the song for those who are interested:
Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally
emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their
faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to BE a Catholic.
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England as one of the
"catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith - a
memory
aid, when to be caught with anything in *writing* indicating adherence to the
Catholic faith could not only get you imprisoned, it could get you hanged
till almost dead then tortured or any number of gruesome deaths.
The song's gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. The "true
love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to
God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized
person. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the
song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns
injury
to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the
expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem!
Jerusalem!
How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her
chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so..."
The other symbols mean the following:
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the
"Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed
Kathy, member GSDCA, DVGSDC
Celebrating generations of Dual Titled TC'd Champions
visit www.geocities.com/pinehillgsds
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