Isn't the Internet Wonderful

11 Masa'il 164 B.E. - Saturday, December 22, 2007 about 10:31 AM PST

The Internet is absolutely wonderful. A person can find anything that they want to know from "How to Cook a Turkey in a Microwave" to the significance of the gifts mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas". I was born on Christmas Eve and, according to my mother, missed being a Christmas baby by only a few minutes. Therefore the traditions surround Christmas have always fascinated me.

Recently I have researched song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", because I'm part of a writing challenge on writing.com that uses the song as inspiration for each of the twelve challenges. There is some disagreement about the historical accuracy of the spiritual or religious meaning of the song. However, that does not make the song and researching it any the less interesting.

There are several different web sites that give information on the song. I found one web page giving the spiritual significance of the song and when he twelve days are actually celebrated. As a child I heard the song and even sang it in Christmas pageants, but until recently did not know the possible religious significance to the gifts in it. I always thought it was about a man giving gifts to his girl. No one explained the spiritual or religious significance of the song and I always wondered why it was used in a religious pageant.

According to the web page The Twelve Days of Christmas, these days fall between Christmas and Epiphany. The twelve days fall between either between December 25 and January 4 or December 26 and January 6. In some traditions the first day begins on the evening of December 25. In addition, the "true love" mentioned in the song refers to the soul's beloved, who in the case of Christians is Christ. Even if the historical accuracy of the traditions is in despite, I find this information fascinating. It also explains why the song is used in so many religious Christmas pageants.