The funny thing is that it’s actually all birds. And all the previous gifts repeat each day. So by the end of this, she should have 364 birds, and 12 trees.
The song likely originated as a children's memory and forfeit game, likely with many regional variations. However, the first known national publication in 1780 illustrated each verse with woodcuts, clearly showing Day Five as jewellery, Day Eight as milkmaids and cows, and Days Nine to Twelve as humans.
Fun fact! Those people and rings are also birds. Goldrings are ring necked pheasants, pipers are a type of bird, drummers are woodpeckers, lords-a-leaping are egrets (?) and maids-a-milking are herons (?) with white feathers on their chest. It’s birds all the way down.
It's a common folk interpretation, but there's no real evidence for that theory. (For instance, what birds do "eight maids a-milking" represent?) There's a fun theory that it used to be a memory game. Each verse, someone would come up with a new gift to add, and then the next person would have to remember all the previous gifts too. So it was sort of freestyle.
"This is....this is literally dozens of birds. Did you stop taking your medication? Because this seems manic to me." Also, surprise, the five golden rings are ring-necked pheasants. They're all birds. It's an absolutely terrible Christmas present.
It's an amazing present for the time/demographic it was written. Anyone living in agrarian Europe would have loved that many food/wealth sources for their farm.
The only inaccurate thing about this is that the presents didn’t stack, since the song repeats the items whenever a new one is added, she’d end up with way more than 12 gifts… you’d get: 184 different birds 12 trees 40 rings 140 people of varying occupations "What is this sound that intoxicates me so?" You wake up asking yourself that very question on Day 12, soon realizing that the calming drone of the previous day's pipers has been emboldened by the addition of 11 more pipers and a backing of 12 drummers. It sounds like a late-'90s Missy Elliott song. You're captivated by the sound. More lords arrive with the drummers, and, as always, they brought more ladies. And more birds. There are so many birds. Are the people bringing the birds, or are the birds bringing the people? This thought consumes you for as long as it takes the sweet sounds of that army of bagpipes and drums to once again wash away all your cares. You love that sound. You are that sound. *You want that ring.* There are enough to go around -- exactly 40, counting the ones you pawned. Now that you have an army those should be easy to get back. Sure, there are 140 people, but at least 100 of them haven't even sort of been living in a way that pleases the sound. Soon those pipes and drums will become instruments of war, vanquishing all those who refuse to accept its authority. You will not be one of those people. You will do your part. You will contribute. You will care for 12 partridges, 22 doves, 30 hens, 36 calling birds, 42 geese, and 42 swans. You will provide shelter for 40 maids, 36 dancers, 30 lords, 22 pipers, and 12 drummers. You will buy those 40 maids 40 cows. You will accept the offensive odor of 12 pear trees. You will spend $579,200. You will have a golden ring. You fall asleep reassuring yourself that having a golden ring bestowed upon you by the appointed representatives of your true love is your destiny. It always has been. You fall asleep happy. You're home now. Merry Christmas.
I've always thought the recipient would have to be a queen or something to happily accept all those gifts and possible new loyal subjects (I refuse to accept slavery being called 'gifts'). The queen could keep the birds as pets or have some of them cooked for a party. She'd put the drummers and pipers in the army and the rest to work in her castle, I suppose. On second thought, maybe some enterprising modern person could start a theme park, zoo or circus?
I always imagined it was a farm lady, who had a rich sutor after her. Fills her farm with beautiful valuable birds, gives her maids to milk her cows for her, has the lords and ladies and drummers perform for her, a lowly farmer, to win her love.
Yeah, I figured at some point the speaker of this song must've been a rich person with an aviary and orchard and some land so their beloved bought them additions to their aviary, then paid for some extra workers to perform services on their farm, then for the last 4 days started paying for progressively bigger flash mobs. And gave them jewellery. That or the recipient was an aviary-keeping enthusiast and all the gifts are just new additions to the aviary, according to some interpretations.
Thing is, it’s not one partridge in a pear tree, then two turtle doves. it’s a partridge the first day, then a partridge and two turtle doves the next day, then a partridge, two turtle doves and three French hens and so on and so forth
The guy forgot to bring in the pool for the swans to a-swim in. And the eight milk producing mammals for the eight maids to milk. No, they don’t all have to be cows! You can milk sheep, goats, alpacas, giraffes, whales…
5 years later: Bird: And that kids, is how I met your mother, and mother, and mother, and mother and mother, and mother, and mother, and mother, and mother and mother...
The Christmas gifts compound on each other and repeat every day through the song. By the end of the twelve days of Christmas, the girlfriend has 12 partridges, 12 pear trees, 22 turtle doves, 30 French hens, 36 calling birds, 40 ring-necked pheasants, 42 pregnant geese, 42 swans, 40 milkmaids, 36 dancing ladies, 30 leaping lords, 22 pipers, and 12 drummers.
I've been reading the other comments, and apparently every gift is a bird. So I guess the leaping guys are code for a type of bird. Still a weird gift, though.
There was a...well, a gang war in Wells, UK a few years back between the swans and the geese, and the geese lost. Graphically. At least once in front of a party of horrified tourists.
Good thing it wasn’t Canada…. None of the swans would’ve left the park… god forbid if there was more then one goose there, it wouldn’t just be the swans but the tourists too
The OG 12 Days of Christmas song, when it was talking about five golden rings, was actually referencing yet another type of bird. I think it was a turkey, known for its golden ring around its neck. Poor girl.
See, in my interpretation of the 12 days of christmas, it's cumulative: Day 1- bird in tree Day 2- more birds and another bird in another tree Day 3- Even more birds and another more birds and another bird in another tree And so on. So by the end you've got a pear Orchard and a county worth of birds and people.
Fun fact, the switch from birds to jewelry, and back to bird likely means the the "5 golden rings" aren't actually rings, with some theorizing that the line is in reference to ring necked pheasants.
I though she got a partige in a pear tree on all twelve days for a total of 12. 11 days of getting 2 turtle doves would be 12 partiges 12 pear trees 22 turtle doves 30 french hens....
You know the 12 days of Christmas gifts are metaphors like a partridge in a pear tree is Jesus dying on the cross two turtle doves are the old and New Testament etc the people that made the song had to do it in code
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The funny thing is that it’s actually all birds. And all the previous gifts repeat each day. So by the end of this, she should have 364 birds, and 12 trees.
Yup
1 bird for each day of the year
The song likely originated as a children's memory and forfeit game, likely with many regional variations. However, the first known national publication in 1780 illustrated each verse with woodcuts, clearly showing Day Five as jewellery, Day Eight as milkmaids and cows, and Days Nine to Twelve as humans.
Let's not forget the 140 people she now owns
when you date an ornithologist who was just *waiting* for an excuse to bring his work home with him
'Fun' Fact: Swans can be even more aggressive than geese, and their wings are strong enough to break human bones.
Yeah, swans are what geese aspire to be
Really? Wow!
@DrawciaGleam02 Yeah, they've been known to send photographers and unfortunate hikers who got a little too close to tge hospital
Oh god Swans are SO territorial. We have them at a college nearby me and one of them bit my boot and almost dragged me into the pond
Who doesn’t want a tree, 23 birds, and 50 people for Christmas? Do five gold rings make up for it?
Fun fact! Those people and rings are also birds.
Goldrings are ring necked pheasants, pipers are a type of bird, drummers are woodpeckers, lords-a-leaping are egrets (?) and maids-a-milking are herons (?) with white feathers on their chest.
It’s birds all the way down.
Yep, as the other person said, they’re all birds! I learned it a few months ago and when I did I was like “oh wow that’s unexpected and cool”
@@eddie-rooWhat rebthe ladies dancing?
@ also birds, don’t remember which specifically. Might be cormorants
Other comments are calling you a liar and they have sources.
Ya know what's really fun about the song is that everything is birds. Lords a leaping, ladies dancing, even the golden rings. All types of birds.
I think it's partially symbolic because Bird giving as gifts used to be regarded as a symbol of wealth and sacrifice.
It's a common folk interpretation, but there's no real evidence for that theory. (For instance, what birds do "eight maids a-milking" represent?)
There's a fun theory that it used to be a memory game. Each verse, someone would come up with a new gift to add, and then the next person would have to remember all the previous gifts too. So it was sort of freestyle.
Actually no it's a metaphor for things in the Bible
@@khamjaninja.actually the 8 beatitudes
"This is....this is literally dozens of birds. Did you stop taking your medication? Because this seems manic to me."
Also, surprise, the five golden rings are ring-necked pheasants. They're all birds. It's an absolutely terrible Christmas present.
It's an amazing present for the time/demographic it was written. Anyone living in agrarian Europe would have loved that many food/wealth sources for their farm.
Well, at least you wouldn't need to worry about the 5 of them for long - ringneck pheasants are extremely prone to cannibalism
@@Amy_the_Lizard😭😭💀
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love turned my life into the bird movie by Alfred Hitchcock.
🤣🤣🤣
It even fits the cadence
That is awesome!
Shout out to the one person in the audience who's seen swan lake and clapped during the swan bit
I think swans in moonlit ponds is common enough of a visual and isn't necessarily a reference to swan lake
The only inaccurate thing about this is that the presents didn’t stack, since the song repeats the items whenever a new one is added, she’d end up with way more than 12 gifts… you’d get:
184 different birds
12 trees
40 rings
140 people of varying occupations
"What is this sound that intoxicates me so?" You wake up asking yourself that very question on Day 12, soon realizing that the calming drone of the previous day's pipers has been emboldened by the addition of 11 more pipers and a backing of 12 drummers. It sounds like a late-'90s Missy Elliott song. You're captivated by the sound.
More lords arrive with the drummers, and, as always, they brought more ladies. And more birds. There are so many birds. Are the people bringing the birds, or are the birds bringing the people? This thought consumes you for as long as it takes the sweet sounds of that army of bagpipes and drums to once again wash away all your cares. You love that sound. You are that sound. *You want that ring.*
There are enough to go around -- exactly 40, counting the ones you pawned. Now that you have an army those should be easy to get back. Sure, there are 140 people, but at least 100 of them haven't even sort of been living in a way that pleases the sound. Soon those pipes and drums will become instruments of war, vanquishing all those who refuse to accept its authority. You will not be one of those people. You will do your part. You will contribute. You will care for 12 partridges, 22 doves, 30 hens, 36 calling birds, 42 geese, and 42 swans. You will provide shelter for 40 maids, 36 dancers, 30 lords, 22 pipers, and 12 drummers. You will buy those 40 maids 40 cows. You will accept the offensive odor of 12 pear trees. You will spend $579,200. You will have a golden ring. You fall asleep reassuring yourself that having a golden ring bestowed upon you by the appointed representatives of your true love is your destiny. It always has been. You fall asleep happy. You're home now. Merry Christmas.
Beautiful story of the 12 days of Christmas!
I've always thought the recipient would have to be a queen or something to happily accept all those gifts and possible new loyal subjects (I refuse to accept slavery being called 'gifts'). The queen could keep the birds as pets or have some of them cooked for a party. She'd put the drummers and pipers in the army and the rest to work in her castle, I suppose.
On second thought, maybe some enterprising modern person could start a theme park, zoo or circus?
That makes a lot more sense
originally every gift was a type of bird for the big Christmas feast
Fun fact: the rings and the people are all also birds!
I always imagined it was a farm lady, who had a rich sutor after her. Fills her farm with beautiful valuable birds, gives her maids to milk her cows for her, has the lords and ladies and drummers perform for her, a lowly farmer, to win her love.
Yeah, I figured at some point the speaker of this song must've been a rich person with an aviary and orchard and some land so their beloved bought them additions to their aviary, then paid for some extra workers to perform services on their farm, then for the last 4 days started paying for progressively bigger flash mobs. And gave them jewellery.
That or the recipient was an aviary-keeping enthusiast and all the gifts are just new additions to the aviary, according to some interpretations.
I like to imagine this being an elaborate way for the SO to tell the other they bought the farm for her that she always wanted
Everyone is now stating that "all" the gifts were initially strange name codes for birds. "All of them." 😖
That awkward moment when your significant other's number one love language is giving gifts, but it's not near your number one love language.
Thing is, it’s not one partridge in a pear tree, then two turtle doves. it’s a partridge the first day, then a partridge and two turtle doves the next day, then a partridge, two turtle doves and three French hens and so on and so forth
So it's 12! Days of Christmas :O
Who doesn’t want 12! birds for Christmas?
No that would be 12x11x10@_bobsayshello
it's 12 Days of ∑ristmas
@@_bobsayshello It's actually the 12th triangular number 🤓
The guy forgot to bring in the pool for the swans to a-swim in. And the eight milk producing mammals for the eight maids to milk. No, they don’t all have to be cows! You can milk sheep, goats, alpacas, giraffes, whales…
...humans-
@@BlindStarLilyGo forth and swallow those words, you little miscreant!
Yeah, if the swans were literally swimming, they'd have to at least put a blow-up pool in the apartment. Or I guess just let them loose in the bath 🤔
@@BlindStarLily yeah, maybe they're just eight wet nurses
Norm Macdonald also has a great bit on this. “No, they’re not birds. They’re-they’re people”
The Office has my favorite bit about this where Erin gets attack by the swans Andy bought her and they cut to her car being full of swans
Actually no they aren't either one
5 years later:
Bird: And that kids, is how I met your mother, and mother, and mother, and mother and mother, and mother, and mother, and mother, and mother and mother...
"I said I wanted an Apple Watch," puts it on a whole other level.
2:25 the five golden rings actually are also birds.
The five golden rings were birds, the yellow ringed pheasants.
never enough birds (never enough)
it turned out that in fact, one could indeed have enough birds
The Christmas gifts compound on each other and repeat every day through the song. By the end of the twelve days of Christmas, the girlfriend has 12 partridges, 12 pear trees, 22 turtle doves, 30 French hens, 36 calling birds, 40 ring-necked pheasants, 42 pregnant geese, 42 swans, 40 milkmaids, 36 dancing ladies, 30 leaping lords, 22 pipers, and 12 drummers.
1, you’re supposed to eat the birds
2, the five gold rings were also birds
3, everything is actually birds
PRESIDENTIAL ALERT: The birds are fighting!
My school choir sang this song called the Twelve Days After Christmas. Definitely recommend ✌️
I was just thinking about this yesterday! Who gives twelve leaping dudes as a gift?!
I always assumed they came in, did their dance number, and then left again.
Possibly that was a rash assumption.
Because 10 dudes just standing around is a terrible gift, duh😁
I've been reading the other comments, and apparently every gift is a bird. So I guess the leaping guys are code for a type of bird. Still a weird gift, though.
@themusicintrovert1393 yeah there's no proof to that
@@zach2382 Yeah, I don't know if it's true.
As a kid I has no idea what a turtle dove was so my mind came turtles with wings 😂
The human portion is the best!
There was a...well, a gang war in Wells, UK a few years back between the swans and the geese, and the geese lost. Graphically. At least once in front of a party of horrified tourists.
Good thing it wasn’t Canada…. None of the swans would’ve left the park… god forbid if there was more then one goose there, it wouldn’t just be the swans but the tourists too
This made me remember the animated special with the girl getting all 12 gifts.
The poop... The poop is everywhere!
The OG 12 Days of Christmas song, when it was talking about five golden rings, was actually referencing yet another type of bird. I think it was a turkey, known for its golden ring around its neck. Poor girl.
Five golden rings is the “It’s Not Unusual” between the “What’s New Pussycat” birds at the 12 Days of Christmas Diner.
Just got an ad for KFC after this lol
One the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave me bird flu
I hate to be that person..... Buuuuuuttttttttt all 12 days are birds!!!!
I imagined the pipers and drummers as a Scottish marching band… 😂
I imagine it's a groundhog day loop. Christmas day repeats twelve times. Except that each time, they get another set of gifts.
28 straight days of birds! The rings are also birds, there is no reprieve, only bird hell lol
I think we all know birds cannot be pregnant (at least I hope we all know that), but something about saying "pregnant geese" is hilarious lol
Doesn't it math out that by the end of the 12 days of Christmas you have 364 (365?) Gifts?
Woah, you're right! I'd never noticed that before
Five golden ring... necked pheasants.
The world has needed this
Pregnant geese are especially mean
No further context needed
More birds!
3:30 actually it is. they are all birds.
I’m pretty sure each day she also receives a duplicate of the previous days gifts.
See, in my interpretation of the 12 days of christmas, it's cumulative:
Day 1- bird in tree
Day 2- more birds and another bird in another tree
Day 3- Even more birds and another more birds and another bird in another tree
And so on. So by the end you've got a pear Orchard and a county worth of birds and people.
At least she can get free eggs from the six geese a-laying
I'm wheezing, thank you for this wonderful contribution to humanity 😂😂😂😂
All I have to say is Bird Flu 😅
the plot of "dear Nuala"
Maybe the maids could be cleaning up after birds unstead of milking cows
This is a short story that I read. It takes place in the near future, and the deliveries of items come by way of an Amazon-like parcel company.
The way I see this twelve days after it released
The hens used to be horns, didn't they? French horns?
Fun fact, the switch from birds to jewelry, and back to bird likely means the the "5 golden rings" aren't actually rings, with some theorizing that the line is in reference to ring necked pheasants.
Until now I’d never quite realized that all of the gifts were either birds or people… except the rings of course.
So many birds...
I though she got a partige in a pear tree on all twelve days for a total of 12. 11 days of getting 2 turtle doves would be 12 partiges 12 pear trees 22 turtle doves 30 french hens....
I know it’s past Christmas but it feels ironic I see this after it was posted 12 days ago.
You know the 12 days of Christmas gifts are metaphors like a partridge in a pear tree is Jesus dying on the cross two turtle doves are the old and New Testament etc the people that made the song had to do it in code
It’s all birds
4 calling birds were actually the Gospels Matthew Mark Luke and John
The 12th day of Christmas is January 5th