The Twelve Days of Christmas
Continuing with our spiritual theme of “The Twelve Days of Christmas, we begin with; “on the seventh day of Christmas (Thursday December 31st), my true love gave to me, “Seven Swans a Swimming”. Just this image of swans floating along on the water is so relaxing and makes me feel peaceful. So to spiritually have these represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is a beautiful metaphor. Wisdom, Counsel, Understanding, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord ( This means to understand the greatness and awesomeness of God, not literally fear Him) Isaiah 11:1-3. All of these gifts are given to provide us a moral compass to living life, which in turn should bring us peace and tranquility, just as these swimming swans appear to us. The seventh day is a wonderful time to learn about these gifts and see how they can take us into the New Year!
On the eighth day of Christmas (Friday Jan 1; New Years day), my true love gave to me, “8 Maids a Milking”. Interesting image, growing up on a farm, I often saw cows being milked by hand and tried it myself a couple of times. There is a real rhythm to milking cows by hand and it requires a certain amount of discipline to master the art of getting a full pail of milk. As we look at the spiritual meaning, it refers to the 8 Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-10.“Blessed are the Poor in Spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what is right; they shall be satisfied.”
“Blessed are the merciful; they will be shown mercy.”
“Blessed are the pure in heart; they shall see God.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers; they shall be called the children of God.”
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of what is right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
These Beatitudes were given to us by Christ during His “Sermon on the Mount”. They are meant to describe for us what is needed to live our temporary life here on earth in order that we will be able to live our eternal life in Heaven. Upon reading through this list, it fits beautifully for the first day of the new year! But just like milking cows, it will take discipline to learn the rhythm that will make them part of my daily life and allow me to reap the fruits of their labor.
Happy New Year!
On the ninth day of Christmas (Saturday Jan. 2), my true love sent to me, “Nine Ladies Dancing”! The nine ladies dancing are certainly a jubilant image as we imagine their flowing movements across a stage. As we relate them to the spiritual side of the song, we learn that they are representative of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit—–Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22. Reviewing this list, in the light of dancing, gives me a feeling of connectedness as I move to the rhythm of life in union with Jesus Christ. The gentle movements of the ladies dancing requires a lot of self control, much the same as what it takes to live our lives to the fullest. Already on the second day of the new year, I found it difficult to maintain a sense of control as I see the chocolate each time I open the frig door! I’m sure the best way to help me with this is to just rid the house of all of it, but then am I really working on self-control?
On the tenth day of Christmas (Sunday Jan. 3), my true love gave to me, “10 Lords a Leaping”. Our scripture reference for The Ten Lords A-Leaping is The Ten Commandments, which were given by God to Moses, who gave them to the Israelites as a guide for them to live a life faithful to God. They can be be found in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. The first three commandments tell us how to love God and the following seven refer to our love for our neighbors.I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange gods before me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
These are a leap from the previous nine gifts as these contain laws. We have been given these rules as a guide to maintain our spiritual health and growth. Some seem very easy for me to follow and others, well, sometimes I do envy what others have in life and I don’t. But through my own growth I have come to realize that whatever I have right now, is enough. But, as to my growth in some of these other areas, there’s a lot more study, prayer and action needed. It’s a new year and time for me to take that, Leap of Faith!
On the 11th day of Christmas (Monday Jan 4th), my true love gave to me, “Eleven Pipers Piping”. This verse gives us a little bit of a twist, as it refers to the 11 Apostles. But you say, there were 12, and yes there were. But we also know that Judas betrayed Jesus and killed himself leaving only 11 to continue Christ’s work. It’s unfortunate that Judas, after walking with Christ for three years, would first of all deny Him and secondly, not understand the forgiveness that is always available to us through Christ.All we need to do is to be sorry and ask for forgiveness. Having just said that, it isn’t always that easy and not always my first response in certain situations. I’m just not sure why saying I’m sorry, about uttering undesirable words regarding the driver of a car that just pulled out in front of me, is so difficult. It’s so much easier to make a few uncharitable comments about the driver, rather than taking a deep breath and saying a prayer for patience. That is the hard part for me and the greater the offense, the harder to forgive. This is a time I really need to connect with those “nine ladies dancing” (the fruits of the Holy Spirit) in order to be able to forgive. If I don’t, the remembered grievance will continue to fester and diminish my ability to love and be loved. Hopefully, I learn to forgive completely and always, for then I will always be able to sing along in a joyful voice with our Eleven Pipers, Piping!
On the 12th day of Christmas (Tuesday Jan. 5th), my true love gave to me, “Twelve Drummers Drumming”. We’ve come to the end of our song and the end of the Christmas season. The twelfth day is the celebration of the Epiphany. “The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world. The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East. Our 12 drummers represent the 12 concepts of the Apostles Creed. A creed we recite every week to remind us of our beliefs and to carry those beliefs with us each day.Whether you agree/disagree that there is a spiritual version to the “Twelve days of Christmas” song or it that it is just a “myth”, as some folklore stories have been referred to, it’s still a great way to be reminded of our beliefs each time we hear this song. Some cultures recreate the song by focusing on a different saint for each of the days. For me, it’s an important reminder that Christmas doesn’t end on Christmas day. Just as the birth of the child Jesus is only the beginning of the “New Covenant” story, so to is Christmas day just the beginning of the Christmas story. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the spiritual meaning of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you. May they live in you throughout the year and help each us keep those resolutions and grow in our faith. Happy New Year to each of you!
Just in case you would like to hear a different rendition of this song from the last one:
Thanks for sharing Marj! It’s always good to hear about the spiritual side of this beautiful holiday that is so commercialized. Thanks for this reminder. I won’t be listening to the Twelve Days of Christmas quite the same anymore!