A Merry Christmas wish and a history lesson on a popular holiday song.
The History of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' I was raised a Catholic and never truly understood the meaning of this song until Sister Francis explained it to me when I was in third grade. After that I loved singing this song because I loved it, and because I truly understood the meaning behind it. The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst