The Christmas festival is celebrated for twelve days. It starts on 25th December and ends on 6th January with the celebration of Epiphany. The Epiphany is a Christian feast celebrated in honor of revelation of God to mankind in the form of human “Jesus Christ”. During earlier days, the 6th January was treated as the Birthday of Jesus Christ. But over the time, the western churches started treating 25th December as Christ’s Birthday. Then onwards the Christmas had been celebrated on 25th December. But the eastern churches were continued to celebrate Christmas on 6 January and this gave rise to the twelve days long Christmas celebration ending on 6th January with the feast of Epiphany. In the Middle Ages this period of twelve days used to be treated as the time for feasting and merry-making that end on the twelfth night. The period of twelve days celebration also has a reference in the song “Twelve Days Of Christmas”. The song is a traditional Christmas Carol. The date of its first performance is not clearly known but it is believed to be sang first time in about 16th century in European and Scandinavia traditions. The song itself is related to the teachings of Catholic faith. Each item of the song represents a significant teaching of the Catholic faith. The hidden meaning of each gift in the song teaches something to the children. The First day refers the partridge in a pear tree, which means the Jesus Christ upon the cross. The second day refers to the two turtledoves, which means the old and new testaments. The third day refers to three French hens, which means faith, love and hope. The fourth day refers to four calling birds, which means the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These four wrote the Gospels. The Fifth day refers to five golden rings, which mean the first five books of Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). The sixth day refers to the six geese a-laying, which means six days of creation. The seventh day refers to the seven swans a-swimming, which means the seven gifts of Holy Spirit that were knowledge, understanding, wisdom, fortitude, counsel, piety and fear of the Lord. The eighth day refers to the eight maids a-milking, which means the children of eight beatitudes mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount. The ninth day refers to the nine ladies dancing, which mean the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit found in the Galatians (love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control and faithfulness). The tenth day refers to the ten Lords a-leaping, which mean the Ten Commandments. The eleventh day refers to the eleven pipers piping, which means the eleven faithful apostles. The twelfth day refers to the twelve drummers drumming, which mean the twelve points of faith mentioned in apostles. The twelve believes are belief in the God (The Father), the Son and the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, made man, crucified, died and arose on the third day, he sits at the right hand of the father and will come again, the resurrection of the dead and life everlasting.
