The Twelve Days of Christmas

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"The Twelve Days of Christmas"

The Twelve Days of Christmas ( The Twelve Days of Christmas ) is a traditional Christmas song in the form of a nursery rhyme , the first time in a 1780 English was published children's book. The song was edited several times and is one of the most famous English-language Christmas carols today .

history

The exact genesis of The Twelve Days of Christmas is unknown. It was first described as a nursery rhyme in the English children's book Mirth without Mischief in 1780 , but is much older and probably of French origin. Today, several variants of The Twelve Days of Christmas are known in France, including La foi de la loi in western France and Les dons de l'an in Cambrai .

A text version of the song was published in 1842 by the literary historian James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps . In 1868, The Twelve Days of Christmas was first reprinted by William Henry Husk in his collection of Christmas carols. The best-known revision comes from the British singer Frederic Austin in 1909. Austin added the melody for the song line five gold rings , which has since been adopted by almost all performers. Despite the age of the Christmas carol, Austin's arrangement is still protected by copyright until 2022.

Content and form

In the song of a will in the form of cumulative song listed what gifts the singer to the twelve days of Christmas between the Christmas Day (December 25) and Epiphany (January 6) of his true love ( true love received). On the first day a partridge in a pear tree was presented as a gift , on the second day two lovebirds and the gift from the previous day, on the third day three French chickens, the two lovebirds from the previous day and the partridge from the first day.

Third verse of The Twelve Days of Christmas

The individual stanzas become longer and longer, as a new gift is added every day, the number of which corresponds to the consecutive numbering.

On the last day, twelve drummers , eleven bagpipers , ten morris dancers , nine dancers , eight maids , seven swans , six geese , five gold rings, four canaries , three French chickens, two lovebirds and a partridge in a pear tree are presented as gifts on the last day Original text: Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five gold rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree ).

interpretation

The meaning of the individual presents is unclear today, some terms can also be interpreted differently. Instead of the four calling birds, the original description was “four collie birds” , meaning coal-black blackbirds .

In a highly controversial interpretation, religious references are made to the numbers of presents:

object refers to
1 Partridge in a Pear Tree God
2 turtle doves the Old and New Testaments
3 french hens Faith , hope and love , the theological virtues
4 calling birds the four gospels / the four evangelists
5 gold rings the Pentateuch , the story of the Fall
6 Geese A-laying the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit / the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking the eight Beatitudes
9 ladies dancing the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping the ten commandments
11 pipers piping the eleven apostles
12 drummers drumming the twelve doctrines of the Apostles' Creed

Recordings

Numerous artists have recorded The Twelve Days of Christmas , including Judy Collins , Ray Conniff, Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters , The King's Singers & Mormon Tabernacle Choir , Glenn Miller , Kenny Rogers , Frank Sinatra , The Spinners and Abney Park . In 1998 Reinhard Mey released the German version of the Christmas carol as a single with Die 12 Weihnachtstage . In 2004 and 2010 Gerhard Schöne published “The Twelve Christmas Holidays” as title 3 of the album: Kings from Orient.

The Twelve Days of Christmas is the most parodied Christmas carol. Many copywriters are tempted to come up with new lists of 12 presents and so The Twelve Days of Christmas should be the Christmas carol that has been and is most often parodied. A Cologne 12-day parody collection from 2018 comes to over 200 parodies , which can be divided into the following chapters:

a) The 12 days in different regions, countries, ethnicities: (versions from: Australia, Jamaica, Canada, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Hawaii; New Mexico, Rhode Island; Texas, Utah, Latin-Style; Italy-Style, India style, 12 Days of Indian Stereotypes, etc.),

b) exhausting and painful Christmas days, modern gifts, etc. Ä. (12 Pains of Christmas. The 12 Gifts; The 12 Yats; Modern 12 Days; The 12 Days of Ch.to a Girl 12 Days After Christmas; Ghetto Days; 12 Days of Guido)

c) Parodies of video games, TV series, etc. (Sesame Street, Elmmo, StarCraft, Call of Duty; Minecraft; Inspector Gadget; Twin Peaks; Phantom of the Opera; Sansmas; Tumbl; 12 Books of RA; 3 Undertale Versions; Alphans; Yaksma; Nickmas ; Backyardigans; Garfield; Pokémon; Barbies; Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites Disney; Scrubs; Days of Investigating – The x-Files; Various versions of Supernatural Style)

d) School, study and leisure time, sport, workout (training) (The First 12 Days of School; School Days of Christmas; 12 days of college; of finals; 12 days of (New England) patriots 12 Days of Camping; of Scrapbooking ; of Scouting (Pathfinder); of Summer Camp; of Krysalis Fitness; ca 25 versions: of Christmas Workout;)

e) Berufe, Computer, Internet (12 Days techmas the TD; 12 days of Journalism: of AOL; of Beta Testing; 12 computerized days; of Business-The Capital Steps; in the pharmacy; of Dentist; Truckers version; of Farmer) ;

f) Sex, erotic, adult versions (boyfriends begging; 12 days Dirty and Thirty; of Explicit; 12 Gays of; 12 sexy days; 12 Days with Swear Words)

g) Political parodies (12 Days of Political Correctness; of government of UK Politic-mas; 2 parodies on Vietnam; 12 days of Terrorists; of Rasist Christmas; Rassist Black Version; of Global Warming;; 3 parodies on Bill & Hillary Clinton, 1 parody of Obama, 5 versions of Donald Trump)

h) Eating, drinking, drugs (12 days of fast food; of Dim Sum; approx. 10 versions of alcohol, e.g .: The twelve drinks; 12 Daze of; of Spirit; of Christmas Drinking; approx. 10 versions of Cannabis, hookah and other drugs e.g .: 12 Days Of Marijuana; 12 Tokes of; 12 Drugs of; 12 Days of Stoner (Kiffer) Christmas)

Successful parodies include The Twelve Gifts of Christmas by comedian Allan Sherman , Frank Kelly's Christmas Countdown , which made it into the Irish singles chart in 1982 , and the version by Bob and Doug McKenzie, two characters from the Canadian comedy show Second City TV , embodied by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas . An at least lyrically authentic version of The Twelve Days of Christmas recorded in 1979 the American country musician John Denver together with the Muppets for the album A Christmas Together . For Christmas 2000, Blizzard Entertainment released a version based on their computer game StarCraft as an MP3 file. Furthermore, in 2010 the band “The Kings of Carnage” released an album called A very zombie Christmas , in which some Christmas songs are repositioned so that they fit for the “Nazi Zombie Mode” of the “Call of Duty” series. This album also features a parody of The Twelve Days of Christmas .

The Oscar- nominated short film On the Twelfth Day (1955) is about a woman whose friend Truelove, according to the information in the song, gives her a present and thus causes chaos. The song is sung analogous to the action.

Christmas price index

Development of the true cost of Christmas from 1984 to 2009

In 1984, the US bank PNC Financial Services determined the cost of purchasing the goods described in The Twelve Days of Christmas for the first time. Since then, the price development has been tracked annually, so that the Christmas Price Index was used to determine a price index that is regarded as a scientific joke , but whose course reflects the general price development in the United States well.

Various sources are used to determine the Christmas price index. For the birds, prices are inquired at pet stores, the Cincinnati Zoo, and the National Aviary in Pittsburgh . The price of the gold rings is determined by a jeweler, the price of the pear tree is based on offers from a nursery in Philadelphia. For the various musicians, dancers and maids, the corresponding collective wages are included in the calculation.

In addition to the normal Christmas price index, in which the costs for a pear tree, a partridge, two pigeons, three chickens, etc. are added, the “True Costs of Christmas” are also calculated, taking into account the repetitions in the individual stanzas. These costs are thus composed of the prices for a total of 364 goods (12 pear trees and partridges, 22 pigeons, 30 chickens, etc.).

In 2009, the Christmas price index rose by a moderate 1.8% due to the weak US economy during the financial crisis . The greatest price increase was for gold rings, as the gold price had reached new record levels in autumn 2009; on the other hand, the price of the partridge halved compared to the previous year. Overall, the Christmas price index in 2009 reached a value of 21,465.56 US dollars , the "real cost of Christmas" was 87,402.81 US dollars.

literature

  • William Henry Husk: Songs of the Nativity . John Camden Hotten, London 1868. ( Digitized from the Internet Archive )
  • Ludwig Hoerner: Large text collection of the song: The twelve days of christmas-The twelve Christmas days-Les douze jours de Noël-Los Doce Días De Navidad Manuscript Cologne 2018

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leigh Grant: The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Celebration and History . H. Abrams, New York 1995, ISBN 0-8109-3881-2 .
  2. ^ Lina Eckenstein : Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes . Duckworth, London 1906, p. 136.
  3. ↑ Malcolm Gillies, Bruce Clunies Ross (Ed.): Grainger on Music . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999, ISBN 0-19-816665-6 , pp. 350-351.
  4. ^ A b Iona Opie, Peter Opie: The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1951, ISBN 0-19-869111-4 , pp. 122-123.
  5. ↑ Bunny Crumpacker: Perfect Figures: The Lore of Numbers and How We Learned to Count . St. Martin's Press, New York 2007, ISBN 0-312-36005-3 , p. 216.
  6. ↑ The Twelve Days of Christmas - information + text at carols.org.uk; Retrieved September 15, 2010
  7. ↑ List of albums with recordings from The Twelve Days of Christmas on Allmusic . Retrieved July 1, 2012.
  8. ^ A StarCraft Christmas ( September 19, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive ) ign.com, December 20, 2000.
  9. ↑ 364 Presents to true love . Der Tagesspiegel , December 2, 2007; Retrieved December 19, 2008.
  10. ↑ Cost of gold boosts '12 Days of Christmas' shopping: poll . AFP November 30, 2009; Retrieved December 19, 2009.