Thursday, December 13, 2007

Happy One Year to Me!!

I can't believe I've been posting for a year and what an amazing year. I have to thank RPM for keeping after me to start my own blog instead of lurking in all of yours. I'm so lucky to have met such wonderful people in the blogging world and even more lucky to have met in person.

Has anyone every thought the words to the 12 Days of Christmas were a little strange? I really never thought about it until I got this email from my mom today, so I thought I'd share it's meaning.

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

~The Partridge in a Pear tree was Jesus Christ.
~Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
~Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
~The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
~The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
~The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
~Seven swans a-swimming represented the seven fold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
~The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
~Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
~The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
~The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
~The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Pictures of my field trip to come this afternoon.

3 comments:

Sandy said...

I had never heard that. We went to a Christmas party one year with the Husband's work and they did a little game thingy where you had to sing one of the lines from that song and you didn't know in advance that you were going to be called on. It went around the room really quick and you were put on the spot. That was hard!!

♥Lisa and The Pug Posse ♥ said...

Happy One year! wow! I feel like I have known you longer than a year...well actually I have thanks to Sandy....
I never took the time to really listen to the word and meaning of this song...even though I have heard it thousands of times...Thank for sharing that.

Pam said...

I had never heard that before. Interesting.

Happy aniversary!