IST'S NICHT SIEBEN SCHWIMMENSCHWANEN?

During the Festive Season, assorted social media posts call attention to the Deeper Religious Symbolism buried in The Twelve Days of Christmas.  Here's one example. "As a form of secret protest, Catholics created the seemingly nonsensical lyrics that hide teachings found in the Bible. In this way older, practicing Catholics were able to pass along their religious traditions and teaching to their children without risking punishment."  There are other versions, each of which makes use of things quantified in the Bible: two testaments, God in three persons, four Gospels, the Pentateuch, then things get convoluted.

Such posts are so threatening to seculars that Vox and Snopes had to debunk them.

A popular theory that’s made the internet rounds is that the lyrics to “The 12 Days of Christmas” are coded references to Christianity; it posits that the song was written to help Christians learn and pass on the tenets of their faith while avoiding persecution. Under that theory, the various gifts break down as follows, as the myth-debunking website Snopes explained

Another passage in the post inspires the abuse of German I engaged in with that title.  "Some historians think the song could be French in origin, but most agree it was designed as a 'memory and forfeits' game, in which singers tested their recall of the lyrics and had to award their opponents a 'forfeit' — a kiss or a favor of some kind — if they made a mistake." That puts Twelve Days in the same class as a version of Down By the Station I learned as a kid, in which each singer thinks up a cargo, e.g. "Have you loaded on the coal?" and everyone responds, "Yes, we've loaded on the coal?" followed by "Have you loaded on the cows?" and now you have to finish with "And the coal," and it goes on.  But I don't recall any penalties for messing up.

That, dear reader, makes Twelve Days ein Schnitzelbank.  And my late colleague William Studwell, the Christmas carol maven, makes the case for a poster or some other visual aid, as in those tavern songs (and Must Be Santa) to avoid those forfeits.

Studwell, 72, not only researches carols but other kinds of music, including college fight songs, circus music and patriotic tunes. He admits he, like many people, sometimes has trouble remembering all the verses to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” that all return to a certain partridge in a pear tree.

Plus, when you're enumerating things, you can have all sorts of fun, including the thirteen days of haunting at Hallowe'en, or lampooning politicians.

Q: There are parodies of this song that have less to do with religion and more to do with secular items _ from onion rings to beer. Is it more parodied than other carols?

A: Yes. Actually, this is almost a parody carol. Two reasons why I think it lasts: One, people like to think of all the nice things they can get, even if they don’t think of lords-a-leaping. They think of diamonds or toys or something else. It’s (also) such a playful thing. You can twist it back and forth. It’s not fixed like “Silent Night” or “O Holy Night.” It’s a play toy.

His case for Twelve Days as Carol of the Year brings up yet another memory-and-forfeits song popular with the kids.

While something of a purist about Christmas music, Studwell is not put off by the parodies. He considers “The Twelve Days of Christmas” to be the holiday equivalent of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” pointing out that both have a repetitive tune and lyrics that rely heavily on barnyard fowl. How could such a song become a perennial favorite?

Because having fantasies about somebody bestowing a lot of stuff on you is in our genes, and fantasizing in song doesn't involve the price of a lottery ticket.