What Do The ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ Stand For

We are two weeks away from Christmas and that means on Sunday, December 13th, it'll be twelve days away and time for the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song.  Did you know the Twelve Days of Christmas is about the 12 days AFTER Christmas, not before?

It marks the amount of time it took after the birth of Jesus for the wise men (magi) to travel to Bethlehem for the Epiphany when they recognized him as the son of God. That's why the holiday called the "Feast of the Epiphany" is on January 6th.

That may be true but I find what the 12 days stand for is more fascinating. If you've wondered what the twelve days stand for, then wait no more:

1 Partridge in a Pear Tree: Jesus Christ

2 Turtle Doves: The Old and New Testaments

3 French Hens: Faith, Hope, and Charity --The 3 Theological Virtues

4 Calling Birds: The 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

5 Golden Rings: The first 5 Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch," which relays the history of man's fall from grace.

6 Geese A-laying: The 6 days of Creation

7 Swans A-swimming: The 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit

8 Maids A-milking: The 8 Beatitudes

9 Ladies Dancing: The 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit

10 Lords A-leaping: The 10 Commandments

11 Pipers Piping: The 11 Faithful Apostles

12 Drummers Drumming: The 12 points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed.

Whether the Twelve Days of Christmas is meant to be before or after Christmas, doesn't really matter. To me, it's an awesome way to remember twelve different things that are given to us through the Bible.

Many of us believed that 2020 was going to be God's year (20 20 vision) and I think it has. Just not in the way we thought but that's another story for another day.