Now you know why there are 12 days of Christmas, so keep the Christmas trivia train rollin' along by watching this video about The 13 Year Old Girl Who Brought Us "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree": th-cam.com/video/I5zak4XlSSM/w-d-xo.html
Who specifically was the man who came up with this song... was it a fore-bearer of Alfred Hitchcock? My true love? More like my worst nightmare! On the 7th day alone, this a-hole sent me 7 swans a swimming, 6 geese a laying, 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge... That's 23 friggin' birds. And not once did he send me a newspaper subscription of even a mop! By the end of the 12th day, I had a house filled with 184 birds and a pile of bird droppings almost a inch thick! Also, let's not forget... Those geese are a laying. Some of those eggs will be a hatching! THEN, after the 7th day, he decided to send in show business people! Ladies dancing, pipers piping, drummers drumming and lords a leaping. I get it that they are in show business and used to working during the holidays. But what about those poor maids a milking? They should be home with their families on Christmas, not jerking on a cow! As for those cows... I managed to get them into my backyard. They were tearing up my house. But then I got another surprise... A visit from the city zoning and code enforcement division. Apparently, I'm not allowed to keep cows inside the city limits, much less 40 of them! All I know is ... with all those birds flapping around and leaving 'little souvenirs' all over the place, there is no way in hell I'm eating those pears! But I really want to know, who is this man? I have a really hard and really swift kick I want to give him, right in the balls!
Today I Found Out This video was incredibly fortuitous. I just came across a Facebook post of mine from last year where I noted that there’s an awful lot of poultry given as gifts... and that was before I knew about the five gold rings. Thanks for validating my suspicions.
I'm not saying if you are wrong or right but if you look up Christmas in the 1828 Noah Webster dictionary you will come up with this CHRISTMAS, noun 1. The festival of the Christian church observed annually on the 25th day of December, in memory of the birth of Christ, and celebrated by a particular church service. The festival includes twelve days 2. Christmas-day. (The festival includes 12 days) So I think we are supposed to celebrate Christmas for 12 days.
All these silly myths came about because we no longer have "stacking" songs, songs where you start with one small thing and then keep adding new elements, repeating the entire list every time an item is added. So people had to come up with all kinds of silliness to explain what used to be a fairly common song structure. There used to be lots of these stacking songs (they were especially well suited to drinking songs), but the 12 Days of Christmas is the only one still generally known. ("99 Bottles of Beer" isn't a stacking song but it's a similar idea - a song that keeps going on with a change in each verse as long as you can keep at it.) I learned a few of these when working at a Ren Faire in the 80's. They're actually really cool, it's too bad we don't have them anymore.
If I were a teacher, I would begin the day with my students by having them watch one of your videos. You always present interesting subject matter that isn't available from any other source. Thank you Simon.
In Iceland we have 13 days of Christmas (or Jól as we have called it since before Christianity was our thing). We also count the 24th because that's when Christmas arrives at 6 in the evening. That's when we eat the big Christmas meal and open gifts.
Effectively, "pear tree" sounds very much like the French "perdrix", partridge. It is frequent that, in English, an animal's name will be the French word when it is in your plate...
I’m Roman Catholic. We celebrate the Octave of Christmas-8 days. The Christmas season includes my feasts, including Ephiphany. The season concludes on the Sunday *after* Christmas with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord by St. John the Baptist. (Because the celebration of Ephiphany is now transferred to Sunday following January 1, this feast of the Baptism of the Lord sometimes falls on a Monday.)
My one suggestion for this channel is to please have the text scroll at the same rate at which it is spoken. I have dyslexia and it’s much easier to read when I have text and audio, and that small lag really distracts me. Love your channel so, so much though! ♥️
I have stumbled upon this video at a very opportune time, almost twelve month later, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you Simon for making it. I hope it keeps reminding us of the 12 days of Christmas forever NOW that someone on the crew has done the hard work of finding out the origins of the Christmas song. May you have a very merry Christmas and an equally wonderful New Year!
I celebrate one day of Christmas because by the time the 25th comes around, I'm so satiated and lethargic that my family has to drag me around if they want me to participate in anything else at all.
If you're Christian, why not keep Advent? You can forego certain foods, etc., as during Lent, limit the partying, do some self-reflection & penance, give/work for charity, and avoid putting up decorations until Gaudete Sunday*. Then, when Christmas really comes, you get to celebrate all the way through to Epiphany! *I usually put up outdoor decorations after Thanksgiving, because it's become a form of witness.
In the Faroe Islands they have a tradition where they count the days of Christmas at midnight on Shrove Monday (Many of the Nordic countries go trick or treating around that time and it is believed that this arose from a tradition of beggars going from house to house to beg for meat just before Lent in pre-Reformation times). They count the days of Christmas by using usually one or two traditional ballads, performed in a chain dance. One of the ballads is in Faroese and called Mær gav Sankta Mortan (St. Martin Gave Me) and it recounts the 20 gifts that the imaginary story teller had received from St. Martin, the first gift, given on the first day, being a feather of a well flying bird. The other ballad is performed in Gøtudanskt (a Faroese dialect of Danish) and might be Norwegian or Danish in origin. It is called Satt op Sankte Simeon (Stand up St. Simeon/Simon) and is shorter, only 12 stanzas or verses (12 apostles, 11 disciples, 10 commandments, 9 choir of angels, 8 blessings, 7 days of creation, 6 stone vessels in the land of Canaan, 5 books of Moses, 4 evangelists, 3 patriarchs, 2 tablets of the law and one is the Lord God who rules all things (this last one is an approximate translation)). Both ballads are performed in the same way - often to the same melody. They will start out by singing the first stanza, which is the first verse (the one feather and the one god) and then for each stanza they will add a verse - sometimes after they've reached the 20th or 12th stanza they will sing the last stanza one final time. Of the two, I think the St. Martin ballad seems to be more kid-friendly and probably intended for fun, while the St. Simeon ballad has a certain religiously didactic element to it - it may have been used as a memory device by people to remember certain things that they were required to know about.
It took 12 days for the 3 magi to reach the baby Jesus. They arrived on jan 6, the Epiphany. Eastern Orthodox Christians observe Christmas on January 6 or 7 They use the old Julian calendar instead of the modern Gregorian calendar.
Why do we have itches that sometimes we can’t locate? My foot itches so god damned bad right now and no matter where I scratch it’s not the right spot!!
BONUS FACT: While the 12 days of Christmas are from 12/25-01/06 (Western Calendar), The Christmas Season doesn’t end until 02/02, The Feast of The Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, 40 days after the celebration of His Birth. Also, I defy anybody here to find a better version of this song than John Denver with The Muppets.
Actually, 12/25 to 1/6 is 13 days. But 12 nights between them, "Twelfth Night" (as in Shakespeare) was the night of January 5-6. Feb. 2 (better known today as Groundhog Day) is 39 days after Christmas, but the period including both Christmas and Groundhog Day (also called Candlemas) is 40 days.
@@bxdanny In Sweden 6 January is known as Trettondag (Thirteenth day) as in the 13th day after Christmas EVE, the twelve days in between are the 12 days of Christmas. Trettondag marks the end of the Christmas holiday season.
@@PSPaaskynen if you are a Swede it is known as Trettondagsafton, the other Nordics and Scandiwegians have names for the day in their own languages. And some even note the old Thirteenth (the 18th of January).
This song always involved those in my school chapel, with each grade being assigned a day, standing up and comically shouting that part at the top of their lungs rather than singing it properly. Somehow, despite the butchery, it's become a bit of a tradition in this school.
"Obviously, I cannot prove anything to anyone who doesn't care to believe." So proof is now the definition of a belief-based argument... I think I'll try that for my next parking ticket.
It's possible there's another pagan holiday that's similar. I do know though that it was a very big Norse holiday starting with the "rebirth" of the Sun Goddess Sol on the 21st, the feast of Baldor on the 25th, and Odin's Hunt (which i can't remember if it took place during the full 12 days, or if it was only on the 24th or on the last day)
During the Roman Empire, they had the Celebration of Saturnalia. The celebration ran for 12 days from the end of December, through the beginning of January. When the Christian church couldn't stamp it out, they took it over, just like they did most non Christian celebrations. The song might have an interesting origin, but the actual 12 days come from a pagan celebration. True story.
Okay! Now I need to go play this game with my wife and exchange some serious... And not so serious... Kisses!!! Merry Christmas Simon, to all those with you and your families my wife and I wish you all the Happiest of New Years!!!
Not all of the gifts in the song may be random. The "two turtledoves" may be a reference to Luke 2:24, which quotes the Old Law of Leviticus 12:6-8 when dealing with the purification of a woman who's given birth. * _And they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, 'a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.'_ (Luke 2:24, NRSV) * _When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. He shall offer it before the Lord, and make atonement on her behalf; then she shall be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, male or female. If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf, and she shall be clean._ (Lev.12:6-8, NRSV)
I want to sing the original unabridged 39 days of Christmas! 39 Fops a' fopping, 38 Fishwives hawking, 37 Coopers cooping, .... 30 YEAR AVERAGE LIFESPAN! ...
I thought it was about someone giving a gift for each day of the year and the love from the true love was the 365th gift. First day gift is partridge=1 day,second day gift is partridge and two doves=3 days,third day gift is three French hens two turtle doves and partridge=6days, etc. If you add up all gifts given over the twelve days = 364 days.
There is a phonetic similarity between the words "Persching" and "Partidge" in the palatinate dialect in German. "Persching" meaning "Pfirsich" in high German, translating to Peach. Coincidence or not, the region was disputed, laying close to the french border. The dialect shares many words with the french language, modified as they may be. Pêche=Peach=Persching=Pfirsich. As a german speaker, living close to the palatinate region, I can't help but hearing peach in the pear tree. Things the mind does.
Twelve was a very useful number in olden times, before decimal systems (i.e. systems based around number ten) became the norm. You can count twelve on a single hand (using your thumb as a pointer to the three segments of your four fingers). Twelve is also conveniently divisible by 12, 6, 4, 3, 2, and 1, making it easy for people to calculate/measure portions of twelve things (and to change the price of the things accordingly). For that reason, many things from the past involve the number twelve. For example, twelve disciples (which are found in Christianity as well as other religions, as they are all man-made and based on the norms of the times they were made up), 12 months in a year, 12 inches equating to 1 foot, 12 hours on a clock face, and going to the store to buy a dozen (i.e. 12) eggs.
It's a reference to the liturgical Christmas season, which spans the 12 days from Christmas Day to the Epiphany, which celebrates the arrival of the Magi.
What I don't get is why aren't there 13 days, or 14 if you count Christmas Eve. Aren't there 13 days between Christmas Day and the Epiphany on Jan. 6th?
12 pack of bud, 'leven rasslin' tickets, tin of Copenhagen, 9 years probation, 8 table dancers, 7 packs of redman, 6 cans of spam, FIVE FLANNEL SHIRTS! 4 big mud tires, 3 shotgun shells, 2 huntin' dogs, and some parts to a Mustang GT.
There used to be 1. Ironically people had long attention spans back then. Days were gradually added to accommodate our galloping consumer society. Unless things change I imagine there will be 13 soon. :-) Merry Christmas to you and all of your research elves.
Once upon a time Christianity was considered a heresy since it wasn't a mainstream religion at that time. Paganism was. BTW that 13 y/o girl is Brenda Lee
During Tudor England, Christmas was celebrated from the birth of Christ to the Feast of The Epiphany (the visiting of the Three Kings) on the fifth of January. Each day was a different celebration...
There are 14 days of Christmas; Þorláksmessa, Aðfangadagur, Jóladagur, annar á jólum, þriðji á jólum, 28. des, 29. des, 30. des, Gamlaársdagur, Nýársdagur, 2. jan, 3jan, 4.jan, 5.jan and þrettándinn (6. janúar -> the last day of Christmas)
I had always heard that this was an old song making fun of Catholic priests (and to a lesser degree nuns). Such as the 5 rings making fun of the priests who were so money-hungry. Good to know that it's just a song for children. That makes the song much nicer. Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season & Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you, and what's next are going to tell us Santa Claus is not real or say the Easter Bunny really doesn't leave all those chocolate eggs.
How odd, I've always sang it as 4 colling birds, 5 gold (not golden) rings. And ended it 9 pipers, 10 drummers, 11 ladies dancing and 12 lords a leaping. Mindygrace
The mountain on which the "sermon on the mount" is delivered is not known. I'd hesitate to assign it to any particular mountain including the Mount of Olives. I believe Matthew intentionally does not tell us, because Jesus taught more or less the same material in lots of places.
Well in Finland Christmas has three holidays: 24-26th of December. Also 6th of January is a holiday as well as 1st but it is not related. The Christmas Eve is not officially a holiday but de facto it is and it is the time of major celebrations. 25th is then to rest and 26th is to visit relatives. We do not get presents at morning but sometime around 6 pm so it as really annoying to wait it. First one had to go to see dead people etc.
I've heard that this was an adaptation of an old French song, Ar rannoù, in breton, Les Vêpres des Grenouilles or Les Séries, or either Le druide et l'enfant in French
Y'know I'm a Christian and I never heard about the religious symbolism of this song until today. So yes, it certainly does sound like they are just pulling it out their butts. It's a wonder what people will try to come up with. A lot of people don't realize when the 12 Days of Xmas are. It goes from Xmas Eve (December 24) to Epiphany (January 6) with three feasts in-between. You have the Xmas Feast on December 25, the Feast of Innocents on December 28, and the Epiphany Feast on January 6; and it's considered bad luck to keep up Xmas decorations up after January 7, so take them down then. It is simple to remember, but some many secular traditions have gotten mixed in that people are forgetting the true many of Xmas. Jesus is the true reason for the season, just remember that. Amen!! December 24: Christmas Eve December 25: Christmas Day December 26: Boxing Day December 27: Feast of St. John December 28: Feast of Innocents December 29: Memorial of St. Thomas December 30: Feast of the Holy Family, unless it's not a Sunday then it's held when Sunday arrives December 31: New Year's Eve January 1: New Year's Day January 2: Feast of the Wise Men January 3: Memorial of Jesus January 4: Memorial of St. Peter January 5: Memorial of St. Mark January 6: Epiphany Day January 7: put away your Christmas decorations, NOW!! Great video. Keep up the good work. God bless you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- with love from a nerdy/reasonable Christian. Merry Xmas.
AlphaWolf098 biblical coat so to tie and mar the life of The Christ. I think all forget what he said to do in remembrance of Him. So much pagan symbolism drives this holiday which Christians don’t even question and almost all put forth there best effort to not even bring up the fact that The Christ was born during summer/late summer time which can easily be discerned if anyone cared to read scripture.
1) There's good historical evidence to suggest that Christmas was celebrated on December 25 for 100 years prior to it replacing and absorbing pagan rituals from Saturnalia. 2) Scriptural evidence suggests that Christ was probably born in September. So there!! Have a nice day.
batmanfanforever08 yet you list none of that “good historical evidence” to show Christians celebrated Christmas. I’m open to any and all that you care to list. Do keep in mind that idol worship is a big no no in scripture so that’s going to blast a massive hole in your case. The book of Jeremiah clearly details Gods distaste for idolizing trees as it states not to nail trees to the ground and adorn them as the pagan does. Where in scripture does it suggest September as a probable time of Yeshuas birth? The only way to verify about what month he was born in, is to study and find out exactly when Cyrenius, the governor Syria, held his census which is when Joseph went to Bethlehem. Facts matter so feel free to list any details you care to on something as important as scripture unless you only intend to make general statements.
Daniel Caskey Stop being a "my way is the right way" try-hard Puritan and just let everyone celebrate Christmas according to their own traditions. People have a right to different opinions about literary interpretation, which is all that reading scripture really boils down to. You're being the kind of Christian that everyone disdains because you're legalistic, intolerant, and cramming your own dogma into everyone else's business like you have some personal monopoly on knowing what really happened 2000 years ago and you're the only one who really knows what all those ancient authors really meant to say. But you don't. Learn to live and let live. Take a page from batmanfanforever08's book - there's someone who knows how to explain their beliefs in a constructive way without making it into a douchy contest over who's right (as if anyone is ever really objectively "right" when it comes to religion). You and everyone else would be a lot happier if you could get the hang of that.
Awesome. Above and beyond the call of holiday duty in this one. I hope you didn’t have to sit through either the Rug Rats or Osmond versions to compile this report. Druids, mistletoe and human sacrifice would be a fun follow on. Maybe there’s a Simpsons episode to consult for that one. Seasons greetings and thanks.
Some of the items in the song aren't available in Hawaii, so a local version was created: www.huapala.org/ChristReligious/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas.html Two local comedians made a video and it got great airplay on "The Interweb.": www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/34093912/comedian-takes-on-12-days-of-christmas-in-hawaii-and-the-result-goes-viral And that's all there is, Christmas Eve, 2017.;)
Huh. So the time I attended a party and each table was assigned one of the 12 items and were made to compete for how well they sang their line was kind of in keeping with the original spirit of the song? Good to know.
Nobody could afford all that stuff except a Rothschild. (or one of their ilk.) What I always wondered is, how can six geese lay five golden rings? Far as I know, geese lay eggs.
There's a movie titled The 12 Disasters of Christmas in which the song is a coded message giving instructions on how to stop the end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar. No kidding, that's an actual movie ^_^
You NEED a store! I want a T shirt or tote! I am sure you can come up with some clever ones! If you do make one-please make it is somewhere where i can get a ladies shirt that doenst have a crew neck (they always feel strangle-y)-a scoop neck or a decent V neck (one that is deep enough to be able to tell it isnt a crew neck...what some people call a V neck is ludicrous!) would be much better!! Thanks! Happy holidays!
The Twelve Days of Christmas represent the 12 days it took the Three Wise Men to reach Bethlehem after the birth of Christ. It was the tradition in some churches to move the three large statues of The Three Wise Men, towards the Altar one-twelfth of the way for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Anyone willing to inform me of the few French songs that Simon was referring to? I'm learning French & would love to know more songs than just Frère Jacques & Alouette (the more historical the better since I'm learning mostly for 18th C living history stuff)
The partridge in the pear tree could be the tax collector in the Bible who was trying to see Jesus in a tree before Jesus told him to get out the tree and to join him for a while.
Now you know why there are 12 days of Christmas, so keep the Christmas trivia train rollin' along by watching this video about The 13 Year Old Girl Who Brought Us "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree":
th-cam.com/video/I5zak4XlSSM/w-d-xo.html
Who specifically was the man who came up with this song... was it a fore-bearer of Alfred Hitchcock? My true love? More like my worst nightmare! On the 7th day alone, this a-hole sent me 7 swans a swimming, 6 geese a laying, 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge... That's 23 friggin' birds. And not once did he send me a newspaper subscription of even a mop! By the end of the 12th day, I had a house filled with 184 birds and a pile of bird droppings almost a inch thick! Also, let's not forget... Those geese are a laying. Some of those eggs will be a hatching! THEN, after the 7th day, he decided to send in show business people! Ladies dancing, pipers piping, drummers drumming and lords a leaping. I get it that they are in show business and used to working during the holidays. But what about those poor maids a milking? They should be home with their families on Christmas, not jerking on a cow! As for those cows... I managed to get them into my backyard. They were tearing up my house. But then I got another surprise... A visit from the city zoning and code enforcement division. Apparently, I'm not allowed to keep cows inside the city limits, much less 40 of them! All I know is ... with all those birds flapping around and leaving 'little souvenirs' all over the place, there is no way in hell I'm eating those pears! But I really want to know, who is this man? I have a really hard and really swift kick I want to give him, right in the balls!
Today I Found Out This video was incredibly fortuitous. I just came across a Facebook post of mine from last year where I noted that there’s an awful lot of poultry given as gifts... and that was before I knew about the five gold rings.
Thanks for validating my suspicions.
@Johnny
Yes a real man. St. Stephen's day, Dec 26
Two of the worst songs of the season 🤮
I'm not saying if you are wrong or right but if you look up Christmas in the 1828 Noah Webster dictionary you will come up with this
CHRISTMAS, noun
1. The festival of the Christian church observed annually on the 25th day of December, in memory of the birth of Christ, and celebrated by a particular church service. The festival includes twelve days
2. Christmas-day.
(The festival includes 12 days)
So I think we are supposed to celebrate Christmas for 12 days.
All these silly myths came about because we no longer have "stacking" songs, songs where you start with one small thing and then keep adding new elements, repeating the entire list every time an item is added. So people had to come up with all kinds of silliness to explain what used to be a fairly common song structure. There used to be lots of these stacking songs (they were especially well suited to drinking songs), but the 12 Days of Christmas is the only one still generally known. ("99 Bottles of Beer" isn't a stacking song but it's a similar idea - a song that keeps going on with a change in each verse as long as you can keep at it.) I learned a few of these when working at a Ren Faire in the 80's. They're actually really cool, it's too bad we don't have them anymore.
mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble FIVE GOLDEN RINGS, mumble, mumble, mumble---Eddie Izzard
(runs in from other room) *FIIIIIIIIIVE GOOOOOOOOLD RIIIIIIIINGS!!!!*
If I were a teacher, I would begin the day with my students by having them watch one of your videos. You always present interesting subject matter that isn't available from any other source. Thank you Simon.
In Iceland we have 13 days of Christmas (or Jól as we have called it since before Christianity was our thing). We also count the 24th because that's when Christmas arrives at 6 in the evening. That's when we eat the big Christmas meal and open gifts.
Do you have the same song? How does it deal with the extra day?
Effectively, "pear tree" sounds very much like the French "perdrix", partridge. It is frequent that, in English, an animal's name will be the French word when it is in your plate...
And a happy new year to all the researchers, compilers and Simon with last, but not least all the subscribers and just likes
I'm an Episcopalian and in the Episcopal Church we celebrate 12 days of Christmas as do most liturgical churches
I’m Roman Catholic. We celebrate the Octave of Christmas-8 days. The Christmas season includes my feasts, including Ephiphany. The season concludes on the Sunday *after* Christmas with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord by St. John the Baptist. (Because the celebration of Ephiphany is now transferred to Sunday following January 1, this feast of the Baptism of the Lord sometimes falls on a Monday.)
My one suggestion for this channel is to please have the text scroll at the same rate at which it is spoken. I have dyslexia and it’s much easier to read when I have text and audio, and that small lag really distracts me. Love your channel so, so much though! ♥️
AbbyJ. Agreed! Please Simon.
I have stumbled upon this video at a very opportune time, almost twelve month later, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you Simon for making it. I hope it keeps reminding us of the 12 days of Christmas forever NOW that someone on the crew has done the hard work of finding out the origins of the Christmas song. May you have a very merry Christmas and an equally wonderful New Year!
I celebrate one day of Christmas because by the time the 25th comes around, I'm so satiated and lethargic that my family has to drag me around if they want me to participate in anything else at all.
If you're Christian, why not keep Advent? You can forego certain foods, etc., as during Lent, limit the partying, do some self-reflection & penance, give/work for charity, and avoid putting up decorations until Gaudete Sunday*. Then, when Christmas really comes, you get to celebrate all the way through to Epiphany!
*I usually put up outdoor decorations after Thanksgiving, because it's become a form of witness.
Thank you Simon, I have always asked myself this question. Have a Merry Christmas Simon and a fantastic New Year's Day!
In the Faroe Islands they have a tradition where they count the days of Christmas at midnight on Shrove Monday (Many of the Nordic countries go trick or treating around that time and it is believed that this arose from a tradition of beggars going from house to house to beg for meat just before Lent in pre-Reformation times). They count the days of Christmas by using usually one or two traditional ballads, performed in a chain dance. One of the ballads is in Faroese and called Mær gav Sankta Mortan (St. Martin Gave Me) and it recounts the 20 gifts that the imaginary story teller had received from St. Martin, the first gift, given on the first day, being a feather of a well flying bird. The other ballad is performed in Gøtudanskt (a Faroese dialect of Danish) and might be Norwegian or Danish in origin. It is called Satt op Sankte Simeon (Stand up St. Simeon/Simon) and is shorter, only 12 stanzas or verses (12 apostles, 11 disciples, 10 commandments, 9 choir of angels, 8 blessings, 7 days of creation, 6 stone vessels in the land of Canaan, 5 books of Moses, 4 evangelists, 3 patriarchs, 2 tablets of the law and one is the Lord God who rules all things (this last one is an approximate translation)). Both ballads are performed in the same way - often to the same melody. They will start out by singing the first stanza, which is the first verse (the one feather and the one god) and then for each stanza they will add a verse - sometimes after they've reached the 20th or 12th stanza they will sing the last stanza one final time.
Of the two, I think the St. Martin ballad seems to be more kid-friendly and probably intended for fun, while the St. Simeon ballad has a certain religiously didactic element to it - it may have been used as a memory device by people to remember certain things that they were required to know about.
Hope all you knowledge seekers have an awesome Christmas!
And you as well :-)
Merry Christmas!!
Ed M thanks Ed m u as well
Or to all Facteteers!
Christ mass = Christmas
Merry Christmas, Simon!
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!
Happy Holidays!! 😆😆
It took 12 days for the 3 magi to reach the baby Jesus. They arrived on jan 6, the Epiphany.
Eastern Orthodox Christians observe Christmas on January 6 or 7 They use the old Julian calendar instead of the modern Gregorian calendar.
Why do we have itches that sometimes we can’t locate? My foot itches so god damned bad right now and no matter where I scratch it’s not the right spot!!
Ed M To cure yourself of that itch you must amputate your foot.
Ed M that means you have herpies or diabetes
Coonotafoo o
Coonotafoo xD what the heck bro lol
it can be a number of things, but this time of the year it's probably alcohol leaving your system if you had a few christmas eve :)
BONUS FACT:
While the 12 days of Christmas are from 12/25-01/06 (Western Calendar), The Christmas Season doesn’t end until 02/02, The Feast of The Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, 40 days after the celebration of His Birth.
Also, I defy anybody here to find a better version of this song than John Denver with The Muppets.
Best ever: Bob and Doug Mckenzie "Great White North" version
th-cam.com/video/1DTwLqR071M/w-d-xo.html
Actually, 12/25 to 1/6 is 13 days. But 12 nights between them, "Twelfth Night" (as in Shakespeare) was the night of January 5-6. Feb. 2 (better known today as Groundhog Day) is 39 days after Christmas, but the period including both Christmas and Groundhog Day (also called Candlemas) is 40 days.
@@bxdanny In Sweden 6 January is known as Trettondag (Thirteenth day) as in the 13th day after Christmas EVE, the twelve days in between are the 12 days of Christmas. Trettondag marks the end of the Christmas holiday season.
@@PSPaaskynen if you are a Swede it is known as Trettondagsafton, the other Nordics and Scandiwegians have names for the day in their own languages. And some even note the old Thirteenth (the 18th of January).
Ba dum bum bum
This song always involved those in my school chapel, with each grade being assigned a day, standing up and comically shouting that part at the top of their lungs rather than singing it properly. Somehow, despite the butchery, it's become a bit of a tradition in this school.
"Obviously, I cannot prove anything to anyone who doesn't care to believe."
So proof is now the definition of a belief-based argument...
I think I'll try that for my next parking ticket.
In Puerto Rico Christmas basically starts after thanksgiving, and ends in January 6.
The 12 days originally came from the Norse 12 days of Yule, starting on the Solstice, encompassing Baldor's feast day (the 25th)
It's funny, all the comments next to you are saying it's based on some other pagan holyday, I guess no one can agree?
It's possible there's another pagan holiday that's similar. I do know though that it was a very big Norse holiday starting with the "rebirth" of the Sun Goddess Sol on the 21st, the feast of Baldor on the 25th, and Odin's Hunt (which i can't remember if it took place during the full 12 days, or if it was only on the 24th or on the last day)
During the Roman Empire, they had the Celebration of Saturnalia. The celebration ran for 12 days from the end of December, through the beginning of January. When the Christian church couldn't stamp it out, they took it over, just like they did most non Christian celebrations. The song might have an interesting origin, but the actual 12 days come from a pagan celebration. True story.
Okay! Now I need to go play this game with my wife and exchange some serious... And not so serious... Kisses!!!
Merry Christmas Simon, to all those with you and your families my wife and I wish you all the Happiest of New Years!!!
Not all of the gifts in the song may be random. The "two turtledoves" may be a reference to Luke 2:24, which quotes the Old Law of Leviticus 12:6-8 when dealing with the purification of a woman who's given birth.
* _And they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, 'a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.'_ (Luke 2:24, NRSV)
* _When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. He shall offer it before the Lord, and make atonement on her behalf; then she shall be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, male or female. If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf, and she shall be clean._ (Lev.12:6-8, NRSV)
Forget a lyric, give a kiss, get jailed for sexual harassment.
Merry Christmas, Simon and the whole TIFO crew. Thank you for your work and I'm looking forward to more over the coming years.
Thanks and Merry Christmas to you as well :-)
What a nice Christmas gift! Thank you, Simon & Co., and Merry Christmas or whatevers to you lot. :)
I want to sing the original unabridged 39 days of Christmas!
39 Fops a' fopping,
38 Fishwives hawking,
37 Coopers cooping,
....
30 YEAR AVERAGE LIFESPAN!
...
I thought it was about someone giving a gift for each day of the year and the love from the true love was the 365th gift. First day gift is partridge=1 day,second day gift is partridge and two doves=3 days,third day gift is three French hens two turtle doves and partridge=6days, etc. If you add up all gifts given over the twelve days = 364 days.
There is a phonetic similarity between the words "Persching" and "Partidge" in the palatinate dialect in German. "Persching" meaning "Pfirsich" in high German, translating to Peach. Coincidence or not, the region was disputed, laying close to the french border. The dialect shares many words with the french language, modified as they may be. Pêche=Peach=Persching=Pfirsich. As a german speaker, living close to the palatinate region, I can't help but hearing peach in the pear tree. Things the mind does.
Thanks, Simon. Merry Christmas!
Twelve was a very useful number in olden times, before decimal systems (i.e. systems based around number ten) became the norm. You can count twelve on a single hand (using your thumb as a pointer to the three segments of your four fingers). Twelve is also conveniently divisible by 12, 6, 4, 3, 2, and 1, making it easy for people to calculate/measure portions of twelve things (and to change the price of the things accordingly). For that reason, many things from the past involve the number twelve. For example, twelve disciples (which are found in Christianity as well as other religions, as they are all man-made and based on the norms of the times they were made up), 12 months in a year, 12 inches equating to 1 foot, 12 hours on a clock face, and going to the store to buy a dozen (i.e. 12) eggs.
4 Collin Firths
3 Bran Sans
2 Myrtle Groves
and the Jaacksooon Family!
Bob and Doug Mckenzie had the best 12 days of Christmas
In at the Jewish faith we have a similar song that is called
אחד מי יודע ehad mi yodea
Or one who know
that song in the pesah ( a Jewish holiday)
It's a reference to the liturgical Christmas season, which spans the 12 days from Christmas Day to the Epiphany, which celebrates the arrival of the Magi.
What I don't get is why aren't there 13 days, or 14 if you count Christmas Eve. Aren't there 13 days between Christmas Day and the Epiphany on Jan. 6th?
Interesting. Happy holidays mr. Whistler.
Merry Xmas from Canada thanks Simon thought the song was about the 12 days before Xmas and u just count down till the actual day comes lol
I personally favour variants where the Lords A-Leaping are the eleventh gift because "Eleven lords a-Leaping" is the funnest to say.
12 pack of bud, 'leven rasslin' tickets, tin of Copenhagen, 9 years probation, 8 table dancers, 7 packs of redman, 6 cans of spam, FIVE FLANNEL SHIRTS! 4 big mud tires, 3 shotgun shells, 2 huntin' dogs, and some parts to a Mustang GT.
Five golden tuques, four pounds of back bacon, three French Toasts, two turtle-necks, and a beer...in a tree.
There used to be 1. Ironically people had long attention spans back then. Days were gradually added to accommodate our galloping consumer society. Unless things change I imagine there will be 13 soon. :-) Merry Christmas to you and all of your research elves.
Huh? No. You clearly no diddly squat about traditional Christianity.
You mean to tell me I could be getting 12 days off work for Christmas every year?!
Once upon a time Christianity was considered a heresy since it wasn't a mainstream religion at that time. Paganism was. BTW that 13 y/o girl is Brenda Lee
On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a totally insufficient dowry.
During Tudor England, Christmas was celebrated from the birth of Christ to the Feast of The Epiphany (the visiting of the Three Kings) on the fifth of January. Each day was a different celebration...
Merry Christmas!
There are 14 days of Christmas; Þorláksmessa, Aðfangadagur, Jóladagur, annar á jólum, þriðji á jólum, 28. des, 29. des, 30. des, Gamlaársdagur, Nýársdagur, 2. jan, 3jan, 4.jan, 5.jan and þrettándinn (6. janúar -> the last day of Christmas)
I had always heard that this was an old song making fun of Catholic priests (and to a lesser degree nuns). Such as the 5 rings making fun of the priests who were so money-hungry. Good to know that it's just a song for children. That makes the song much nicer. Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season & Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays to all the TIFO gang!
Merry Christmas to you, and what's next are going to tell us Santa Claus is not real or say the Easter Bunny really doesn't leave all those chocolate eggs.
The one I really love 💘 is the 12 pains of Christmas.
How odd, I've always sang it as 4 colling birds, 5 gold (not golden) rings. And ended it 9 pipers, 10 drummers, 11 ladies dancing and 12 lords a leaping.
Mindygrace
I appreciated reading text with out someone standing there waving their hands everywhere.
Happy 7th day of Christmas. Variations. 7 days of creation. Fruits of the Spirit.
We have some insane versions going around school with some items way more insane that a flightless bird stuck in a fruit tree in winter.
Could you imagine if someone actually gave all that to you? Your lawn and house would be in shambles.
Merry Christmas All!
The mountain on which the "sermon on the mount" is delivered is not known. I'd hesitate to assign it to any particular mountain including the Mount of Olives. I believe Matthew intentionally does not tell us, because Jesus taught more or less the same material in lots of places.
Whoever would have thought about this is really ingenius.
Well in Finland Christmas has three holidays: 24-26th of December. Also 6th of January is a holiday as well as 1st but it is not related. The Christmas Eve is not officially a holiday but de facto it is and it is the time of major celebrations. 25th is then to rest and 26th is to visit relatives.
We do not get presents at morning but sometime around 6 pm so it as really annoying to wait it. First one had to go to see dead people etc.
Because the Christmas holiday lasts for 12 days. It's pretty self explanatory.
Merry Christmas Friends
A lot of European countries celebrate two days of Christmas (25 and 26)
Johan Hoekstra ...
I'm not sure if it was a partridge or a turkey but I have seen one in a tree. The branch was only about 5' high though.
Happy Christmas
Yes....of course I was thinking why is the ground-nesting patridge in the pear tree....
You realize the text says "a partridge AND a pear tree". 9:40
I looked up partridge in the dictionary one time and it said partridge is a puff of wind hence to fart! The kids got a big kick out of it!
If you add all the gifts together, it adds up to 364
The title grammar may be incorrect... but I’m not sure.
“why _is_ there 12 days...”
vs
“why _are_ there 12 days...”
Kevin Benoit "are" is proper. It's the plural form.
Are
You're right. The title is wrong, it should say"are" instead of "is"
Right, because if you make it a statement, it says, "There are 12 Days of Christmas."
Kevin Benoit it's is because he's referring to one song as opposed to literally 12 days
I've heard that this was an adaptation of an old French song, Ar rannoù, in breton, Les Vêpres des Grenouilles or Les Séries, or either Le druide et l'enfant in French
Y'know I'm a Christian and I never heard about the religious symbolism of this song until today. So yes, it certainly does sound like they are just pulling it out their butts. It's a wonder what people will try to come up with.
A lot of people don't realize when the 12 Days of Xmas are. It goes from Xmas Eve (December 24) to Epiphany (January 6) with three feasts in-between. You have the Xmas Feast on December 25, the Feast of Innocents on December 28, and the Epiphany Feast on January 6; and it's considered bad luck to keep up Xmas decorations up after January 7, so take them down then. It is simple to remember, but some many secular traditions have gotten mixed in that people are forgetting the true many of Xmas. Jesus is the true reason for the season, just remember that. Amen!!
December 24: Christmas Eve
December 25: Christmas Day
December 26: Boxing Day
December 27: Feast of St. John
December 28: Feast of Innocents
December 29: Memorial of St. Thomas
December 30: Feast of the Holy Family, unless it's not a Sunday then it's held when Sunday arrives
December 31: New Year's Eve
January 1: New Year's Day
January 2: Feast of the Wise Men
January 3: Memorial of Jesus
January 4: Memorial of St. Peter
January 5: Memorial of St. Mark
January 6: Epiphany Day
January 7: put away your Christmas decorations, NOW!!
Great video. Keep up the good work. God bless you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- with love from a nerdy/reasonable Christian.
Merry Xmas.
batmanfanforever08 Actually, Christmas is mostly just the pagan holiday Yule, with a Biblical coat of paint.
AlphaWolf098 biblical coat so to tie and mar the life of The Christ. I think all forget what he said to do in remembrance of Him. So much pagan symbolism drives this holiday which Christians don’t even question and almost all put forth there best effort to not even bring up the fact that The Christ was born during summer/late summer time which can easily be discerned if anyone cared to read scripture.
1) There's good historical evidence to suggest that Christmas was celebrated on December 25 for 100 years prior to it replacing and absorbing pagan rituals from Saturnalia.
2) Scriptural evidence suggests that Christ was probably born in September.
So there!!
Have a nice day.
batmanfanforever08 yet you list none of that “good historical evidence” to show Christians celebrated Christmas. I’m open to any and all that you care to list. Do keep in mind that idol worship is a big no no in scripture so that’s going to blast a massive hole in your case. The book of Jeremiah clearly details Gods distaste for idolizing trees as it states not to nail trees to the ground and adorn them as the pagan does. Where in scripture does it suggest September as a probable time of Yeshuas birth? The only way to verify about what month he was born in, is to study and find out exactly when Cyrenius, the governor Syria, held his census which is when Joseph went to Bethlehem. Facts matter so feel free to list any details you care to on something as important as scripture unless you only intend to make general statements.
Daniel Caskey Stop being a "my way is the right way" try-hard Puritan and just let everyone celebrate Christmas according to their own traditions. People have a right to different opinions about literary interpretation, which is all that reading scripture really boils down to. You're being the kind of Christian that everyone disdains because you're legalistic, intolerant, and cramming your own dogma into everyone else's business like you have some personal monopoly on knowing what really happened 2000 years ago and you're the only one who really knows what all those ancient authors really meant to say. But you don't. Learn to live and let live. Take a page from batmanfanforever08's book - there's someone who knows how to explain their beliefs in a constructive way without making it into a douchy contest over who's right (as if anyone is ever really objectively "right" when it comes to religion). You and everyone else would be a lot happier if you could get the hang of that.
My brain feels fed.
Favorite version Bob and Doug McKenzie 12 Days of Christmas 🍺 in a 🎄😀😄
I always thought this song was nonsensical. Thanks for explaining it to me!!!
Murry Christmas yall
You sure the song was not created to torture naughty kids? I find the song tantamount to listening to a cat screaming on loop for 6 hours.
Awesome. Above and beyond the call of holiday duty in this one. I hope you didn’t have to sit through either the Rug Rats or Osmond versions to compile this report. Druids, mistletoe and human sacrifice would be a fun follow on. Maybe there’s a Simpsons episode to consult for that one. Seasons greetings and thanks.
Some of the items in the song aren't available in Hawaii, so a local version was created:
www.huapala.org/ChristReligious/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas.html
Two local comedians made a video and it got great airplay on "The Interweb.":
www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/34093912/comedian-takes-on-12-days-of-christmas-in-hawaii-and-the-result-goes-viral
And that's all there is, Christmas Eve, 2017.;)
Huh. So the time I attended a party and each table was assigned one of the 12 items and were made to compete for how well they sang their line was kind of in keeping with the original spirit of the song? Good to know.
Nobody could afford all that stuff except a Rothschild. (or one of their ilk.) What I always wondered is, how can six geese lay five golden rings? Far as I know, geese lay eggs.
My family and I celebrate Christmas for twelve days.
9:24...Wait, what?
Fernando Davalos in context, that would refer to a tied bundle of sticks used to sweep up.
What isn't popularised by the Americans these days? Free speech, Invading Iraq because reasons, All that other stuff!
I thought they were thin sticks used for building a fire.
Isn't it all about Yule, the holiday celebrated by people who practice Wicca ? It begins on December 21 & ends on January 1
I'd never heard of the tradition of kissing when someone forgets a lyric of the song, but that's a good idea.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
There's a movie titled The 12 Disasters of Christmas in which the song is a coded message giving instructions on how to stop the end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar. No kidding, that's an actual movie ^_^
I am a fan of "alternative" versions of this song-esp the 12 pains of christmas!
You NEED a store! I want a T shirt or tote! I am sure you can come up with some clever ones! If you do make one-please make it is somewhere where i can get a ladies shirt that doenst have a crew neck (they always feel strangle-y)-a scoop neck or a decent V neck (one that is deep enough to be able to tell it isnt a crew neck...what some people call a V neck is ludicrous!) would be much better!! Thanks! Happy holidays!
I had always thought it was because of the difference in days between Catholic Christmas and Orthodox Christmas when the song was written.
The Twelve Days of Christmas represent the 12 days it took the Three Wise Men to reach Bethlehem after the birth of Christ.
It was the tradition in some churches to move the three large statues of The Three Wise Men, towards the Altar one-twelfth of
the way for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Thanks, now I don't have to watch the video
Thumbs up Merry Christmas.
Anyone willing to inform me of the few French songs that Simon was referring to?
I'm learning French & would love to know more songs than just Frère Jacques & Alouette (the more historical the better since I'm learning mostly for 18th C living history stuff)
Missed opportunity to wear a Christmasy shirt ;)
The Great White North version is the best. They were a Canadian comedy duo and the origin of Rick Morranis.
and now all the boys forget their lyrics suddenly
The partridge in the pear tree could be the tax collector in the Bible who was trying to see Jesus in a tree before Jesus told him to get out the tree and to join him for a while.