47 Fun Facts About 12 Days of Christmas

Where were the words of the carol first published, in 1780?

The words first appeared around 1780 in an illustrated children's book printed in London, with no music; the familiar tune was only set down in 1909.

What kind of parlour entertainment do early sources say the song began as?

Early accounts describe a memory-and-forfeits game: each player repeated the growing list and paid a forfeit for a slip, which is why the gifts keep piling up.

Who arranged the standard version of the carol, published in 1909?

Frederic Austin, a baritone and composer, published his arrangement in 1909; it became the standard melody, displacing the older folk tunes collected in the 1800s.

Which part of the tune is credited as an original addition rather than traditional?

The drawn-out 'five gold rings' phrase was written by the 1909 arranger; the rest of the melody comes from much older folk versions of the song.

What did the popular claim that the carol is a coded Catholic catechism turn out to be?

The 'secret catechism' story is incorrect: Snopes found no historical evidence for it, and none of the gifts is specific to Catholic rather than Anglican teaching.

Peter and Iona Opie suggested the song may have come from where, if the partridge is taken literally?

The Opies noted that the red-legged partridge, which perches in trees, was only introduced to England from France in the 1770s, so they suggested a French origin.

Which bank has published a tongue-in-cheek index of the carol's gift prices since 1984?

PNC Financial's Christmas Price Index, begun in 1984, totals the cost of every gift in the song; the 2024 edition put one set of the twelve gifts at about $49,263.

If you buy every gift on every day as the song describes, how many items do you end up with?

Each gift repeats on every later day (12 partridges, 22 turtle doves, and so on), summing to 364 items, one short of a year's worth.

What record did the True Cost of Christmas reach in 2024?

The 2024 True Cost of Christmas, which prices every gift on every day of the song, came to $209,272, up about 3.6% from $201,972 in 2023.

Which day opens the twelve-day festive season in Western Christianity?

The twelve days run from Christmas Day, 25 December, to Twelfth Night on the evening of 5 January; the season is properly called Christmastide.

Which church assembly proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany a sacred season?

The Second Council of Tours in 567 declared the days between Christmas and Epiphany a festive season, the origin of the fixed twelve days.

What is historically considered unlucky about Christmas decorations?

Leaving them up past Candlemas is thought just as bad. The window is narrower than most people assume.

Which Dickens novella features a roast goose and plum pudding at the Cratchits' table?

A Christmas Carol (1843) has the Cratchits carve a roast goose and flame a plum pudding; Dickens's vivid feast helped fix the Victorian image of the season.

In some households, on which two days of the twelve are gifts exchanged?

In that custom presents come on the first day, Christmas Day, and the last, Twelfth Night; other families give a small gift on each of the twelve days.

What do Eastern Christians principally commemorate at Epiphany?

Western churches mark the visit of the Magi; Eastern churches mark the baptism of Jesus. The evening before is Twelfth Night.

Which ritual do Orthodox churches perform at Theophany?

Priests bless rivers, lakes and the sea, and in some countries swimmers dive for a cross. The Western church marks the Magi instead.

What do children in Spain and Latin America leave out on the evening before Three Kings' Day?

Children set out their shoes on the night of 5 January, with grass or hay and water for the Kings' camels; the Three Kings, not Santa, bring the gifts on 6 January.

What is wassail, as a drink?

Wassail is a hot mulled punch, usually cider or ale warmed with sugar, spices and roasted apples, shared from a communal bowl at Christmastide.

What does the Old Norse phrase behind the word 'wassail' mean?

'Wassail' comes from Old Norse ves heill, 'be in good health', paralleling Old English wes hál; it was a toast long before it was a drink.

What is the purpose of orchard wassailing?

Wassailers sing and bang pots in the orchard to wake the cider apple trees and scare off evil spirits, hoping to secure a good autumn crop.

What do the three traditional colours of a Louisiana king cake stand for?

Purple is justice, green is faith and gold is power. The cake itself is usually brioche dough.

What is the French equivalent of the king cake called?

The galette des rois is flaky puff pastry filled with frangipane and hiding a small charm, the fève; in southern France a brioche crown, the gâteau des rois, is preferred instead.

Which holiday falls on the day after Christmas Day?

Boxing Day, 26 December, is a public holiday in the UK and much of the Commonwealth; the name is first recorded in the 1830s.

Where does the name of the 26 December holiday come from?

They collected money or presents for good service through the year. The custom was British and spread across the Commonwealth.

Whose feast day falls on 26 December in the Western church calendar?

Saint Stephen's Day is 26 December in the Western calendar; the carol Good King Wenceslas opens with the king looking out 'on the feast of Stephen'.

What sporting tradition marks 26 December in Britain?

A full programme of league football on 26 December dates to the Football League's early years, with local derbies scheduled to cut travel; the King George VI Chase at Kempton is the day's big race.

Which two dates are both claimed as the twelfth night?

Counting from Christmas Day gives Twelfth Night on 5 January; counting from 26 December gives 6 January, so both dates are defended vigorously.

In the Twelfth Night cake custom, what does finding the bean make a man?

The man who finds the bean is King for the evening and the lady who finds the pea is Queen; the custom survives in king cakes and galettes.

Where and when was Shakespeare's holiday-titled comedy first known to be performed?

Law student John Manningham's diary records Twelfth Night at Middle Temple Hall on Candlemas night, 2 February 1602; the play takes its title from the festivity, not its plot.

Which gift-bringer visits Italian children on the night before Epiphany?

La Befana, a broom-riding old woman, fills Italian children's stockings on the night of 5 January, the eve of Epiphany, with sweets for the good and coal for the naughty.

Which contemporary custom marks all twelve of the days?

Households also sing the corresponding verse of the carol. A yule log is lit on Christmas Eve and burned a little each night.

In medieval England, what filled the whole twelve-day period?

Continuous feasting and revels filled the period, climaxing on Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the season on 5 January.

Which word was added to the start of every verse in the 1909 arrangement?

'On the first day of Christmas' became the standard. Earlier printings simply began 'The first day of Christmas'.

Which publisher issued the 1909 arrangement of the carol?

Novello & Co, the London music publisher founded in 1811, issued the 1909 arrangement that fixed both the tune and the words in their modern form.

Who took over compiling the Christmas Price Index for its sponsoring bank in 1986?

Rebekah M. McCahan, an investment strategist at the sponsoring bank, took over compiling the index in 1986, pricing the twelve gifts each autumn.

On which day is orchard wassailing traditionally celebrated?

Orchard wassailing falls on the twelfth day of Christmastide, Twelfth Night, or in Somerset on 'Old Twelvey' (17 January); cider country keeps it up with shotguns, toast in the trees and singing.

During which weeks is king cake traditionally eaten?

King cake season runs from Epiphany on 6 January through Carnival to Mardi Gras, so New Orleans bakeries sell it for weeks.

Which singer-songwriter performed the carol with the Muppets in the 1979 TV special A Christmas Together?

John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together aired on ABC in December 1979 and spawned an album of the same name released that year.

VeggieTales parodied the carol as 'The 8 ___ Foods of Christmas'; which nationality's cuisine fills the blank?

Polish is the word; the song first appeared on the 1996 album A Very Veggie Christmas and was rerecorded as a Silly Song in 2011.

Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded the carol in 1949 for which label?

Crosby and the Andrews Sisters cut the carol for Decca on 10 May 1949; Perry Como's RCA Victor version followed in 1953.

Old broadsides point to the area around which English city as the carol's likely place of origin?

Newcastle upon Tyne: William Henry Husk wrote in 1864 that the carol turned up on broadsides printed there over the previous 150 years.

In the original 'four colly birds', what does the dialect word 'colly' mean?

Colly means coal-black, so the fourth-day gift was blackbirds; the 1909 arrangement swapped the puzzling word for 'calling', which is what most people sing.

Some scholars think the carol's 'pear tree' is a corruption of which French word?

Perdrix is French for partridge, so the first gift may once have been 'a partridge, une perdrix', sung half in each language before English ears heard 'pear tree'.

In the northern counties of England, the carol was often known by what alternative title?

The Ten Days of Christmas, because northern versions had only ten gifts; elsewhere the gifts varied so much that some verses turned into tongue-twisters.

Bob and Doug McKenzie's 1981 'hoser' version of the carol stops after which day?

Eighth: the hoser gifts run from 'eight comic books' back down to 'a beer in a tree', and the brothers quit there rather than press on to twelve.

In Frank Kelly's 1982 hit 'Christmas Countdown', who receives the twelve disastrous gifts?

Gobnait O'Lúnasa's letters chart the mayhem as Nuala's gifts wreck the house he shares with his mother; the 1982 Irish hit reached number 26 in the UK in 1984.

What is the carol's number in the Roud Folk Song Index?

The carol is Roud 68 in Steve Roud's index of English-language folk songs; its familiar 1909 tune is only one of many that have been attached to the words.