Twelve Days of Christmas

THE CONTROVERSY OVER THE SONG "THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

In the last 20 or so years, there has been quite a bit of controversy over the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. Some say it was a cryptic catechism song, used by the persecuted Catholics of England as a means to teach their children some rudimentary teachings of the Faith under the disguise of a seemingly harmless song. Others contest this, by saying that there is no evidence to back-up this claim and say that the alleged points of doctrine to be found hidden in the song, are nothing different to the teachings of the Anglican religion.

This silly and pointless arguing is just a waste of time and a spinning of wheels, and not worth even going into. The inescapable fact is that the song is about Christmas; therefore it is at least implicitly connected to Christ, for “Christ” is in “Christmas.” Christmas is all about Christ—the word says it all.

In fact, the word “Christmas” is a compound of two words, “Christ” and “Mass” (Latin: Christus and Missa). Also, the root “miss-” comes from the Latin verb mittere (to send) and its past participle missus (sent), whereby we get the word “mission.” Thus Christ was sent on a mission to earth by God the Father Christus missus (Christ sent). The Latin Messias means the Messiah, in other words, Christ—Who is the Messias or Messiah. The Latin word Christus is the translation for the Hebrew word mashiah. The word Mashiah (Christus) means “anointed” which has connotations of being sent or given a mission or role of some sort.

Christmas also hints at the Holy Eucharist, which as Christ said: “I am the living bread which came down from Heaven ... This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die” (John 6:41, 6:50). The Latin word massa means “kneaded dough” and the Latin word masso means “I chew”; while the Latin word messis means “harvest”, as Our Lord said: “Messis quidem multa, operarii autem pauci. Rogate ergo Dominum messis, ut mittat operarios in messem suam” (trans. “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest”). It is from harvesting the wheat that we get the grain to make the flour that will finish up being the bread for the Holy Eucharist or the Body of Christ in the Mass. Christmas!

So Christmas is about Christ. So Christmas songs, if they want to be classified under that category, have— more or less, explicitly or implicitly—something to do with Christ. Sure, you can dechristianize Christmas, as the modern world has largely done; and you can even Christianize pagan festivals, as the Catholic Church has done. Just as “beauty is in eye of the beholder”, so, too, is Christ in the eye of the beholder. You can choose to look for Him or you can choose to ignore Him; you can choose to see Him, or you can a turn a blind eye to Him; you can love Him or you can hate Him: “the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name [Christus]. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory” (John 1:5-14).

Besides, ALL THINGS are meant to remind us (explicitly or implicitly) of God and should lead us both, to God and away from evil. The catechism tells us that “God is everywhere” (by His presence, power and essence); and we know the invisible God through the visible things that He has made: “For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). “To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing may not understand” (Luke 8:10). “Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive.” (Matthew 13:13-14).

You can choose to see God (who made all things) in the things around you, or you can look at them and not see God at all. Songs like The Twelve Days of Christmas can be seen by you as being loosely spiritual or purely secular, they can be seen as parables or pointless prose—you see what you want to see. There are those who see miracles and try arguing against what they have seen and explain it all away by some ‘way-out’ theory; while others look at the miracle with eyes of faith and believe. “For John [the Baptist] came to you in the way of justice, and you did not believe him. But the publicans and the harlots believed him: but you, seeing it, did not even afterwards repent, that you might believe him” (Matthew 21:32). “Unless I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).

We can find something of God in all of creation, for all of creation carries God’s DNA—so to speak; just like a painting or a symphony can teach something about the artist or composer; or how we show something of ourselves through our words and actions—everything operates according to its nature. So, having said all this, you can choose to see something of God in the partridge and the pear tree, or you can shoot, stuff and slow roast the partridge (it tastes nice, they say) and cut-down the tree—it is up to you. For those who want to avoid controversy (or who hate the taste of partridge), let us now go and look at how God and our Faith is reflected in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, regardless of who wrote it, when it was written, why it was written, or whether or not it was written as an ‘underground’ catechetical piece. God is everywhere! And the invisible God is known through the visible things that exist. Lastly, as St. Paul says: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Let’s do that!

Click here to go to the 1st Day of Christmas