Ideally this should have been posted before Epiphany and not after, but as Melancholicus had only very restricted access to computers over his Christmas break, he is sure his readers will forgive him.
Inspired by this amusing post by
Mulier Fortis, Melancholicus was reminded of hearing Mass on the feast of the
Holy Innocents (December 28th last) during which the PP delivered for his homily an interesting interpretation of the carol
The Twelve Days of Christmas.
This carol apparently began life in post-Reformation England, in which secret Catholics and recusants used it as a coded means of passing on the Catholic faith, Romish prayer books and catechisms having been proscribed. However, as Father went down through each of the items comprising the verses of this carol, Melancholicus couldn’t help noticing that many of the Catholic teachings concealed therein do not differ at all from the Anglican version of the same!
The following is Father’s explanation of the symbolism in this carol, reproduced from Melancholicus’ memory, since no books or websites have been consulted in the preparation of this post.
Melancholicus has no idea how authoritative this explanation is, so he is open to correction by those who know more about the subject than he does.
So here goes:
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a patridge in a pear treeMy “true love” is, as befits the Christian soul, almighty God. The partridge is His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the pear tree can double as the womb of the Blessed Virgin, in which the earthly life of the Lord began, and the cross, on which His earthly life ended.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two turtle doves...The two turtle doves are the two divisions of sacred Scripture, the Old and New Testaments. Incidentally, the offering made by poor couples in the Temple in Jerusalem after the birth of their first child was two turtle doves, and this in fact was the offering made on behalf of the Lord Jesus by His mother and St. Joseph when He was presented in the Temple.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me three French hens...The French hens represent the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me four calling birds...The calling birds represent the four Evangelists—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five gold rings...The gold rings are the five books of the
Pentateuch, i.e. the first five books of the Bible, namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me six geese a-laying...These are the six days of Creation as described in the first chapter of Genesis.
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me seven swans a-swimming...The swans represent either the seven
sacraments or the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost enumerated in Isaiah 11:2 and imparted through the sacrament of
Confirmation.
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me eight maids a-milking...These are the eight
Beatitudes delivered by the Lord Jesus in His sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:3-10.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me nine ladies dancing...These are—if memory serves correctly—the nine fruits of the Holy Ghost. I’m sure they’re mentioned somewhere in the Bible (Paul, no doubt, enumerates them—maybe in Corinthians?) but I’m not sure where.
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ten lords a-leaping...An easy one! The ten precepts of the decalogue, of course.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me eleven pipers piping...Which reminds Melancholicus of Rob Martin, a friend of his and fellow seminarist in those far-off golden days, who used to play the bagpipes (and no doubt still does). Well, to get back to the point, the pipers represent the eleven faithful apostles after the defection of Judas.
And finally...
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me twelve drummers drumming...These represent the complete apostolic college, and hence are a figure of the Church and of the unity thereof.
And that’s that.
Last year Melancholicus was struck with wonderment at the fact that, even in this brave new age of cultural ‘sensitivity’, An Post was so coarse and majoritarian as to use the word Christmas openly and shamelessly on their website. As if such were not sufficiently offensive to the devotees of lesser gods, to ethnic ‘minorities’, to Irish Times readers and to the liberal intelligentsia generally, An Post did not even scruple to issue, even to the very public, a special set of seasonal stamps with an unmistakably Christian theme.
Melancholicus sent off his Christmas cards today (yes, gentle reader, he does actually have friends) — somewhat late, but as none of the missives is going further afield than Limerick, he reckons they should reach their destinations on time.