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Day 10 of 12 Days of Christmas: Ten lords a’leaping

By jacksonnhccPosted on Posted in Advent & Christmas, Home, Weekly MeditationsTagged , ,

With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. — Acts 3:8

Then the lame will leap like a deer,
And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. — Isaiah 35:6

King David leaping and dancing before the Lord ... — 2 Samuel 6:16

SONGS about LEAPING:

SYMBOLISM and DISCUSSION of Ten Lords A’Leaping

It’s primarily a love song. It’s a game song, too. The point is to remember every item and not get twisted up. — Edward Phinney, a professor of classics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst

As such, the original tune was probably used as a “forfeit” song, during which two sides would sing verses in turn. If one side forgot a verse or blew a line, they would have to forefeit a prize. In many cases, it was a kiss. — Joe Fasbinder, United Press International

Long Time Gone “Ten Lords A-Leaping?” Where Did They all Come From? And What Does That Even Mean? — Priscilla Waggoner
Although some challenge the veracity of the story, a writer named Ann Ball, who spent years writing on the lives of the saints and “The Handbook of Catholic Sacramentals”, explains the real meaning and tracks the carol back to England and the year 1558.
      According to Ball, from the mid-1500s to 1829, Catholics in England were not allowed to freely and openly practice their religion. As a result, someone penned the carol as a summary of the principles of Christianity—also known as a catechism—for young Catholics, unable to receive instruction, to learn. Ball states there are two meanings of the carol: the one that everyone knows and references the multitude of gifts received by the writer’s “true love”. The second and hidden meaning of the carol is reserved for members of the Catholic Church to understand as each line contains a word that references a religious principle that, written as it was, will help Catholic children to remember.
     As she describes in her book “The Handbook of Catholic Sacrementals”, what follows is the meaning (in Ball’s words) that are hidden in the lyrics to the carol we’ve heard for longer than we can remember.
     …. The ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments.—
…. As was stated, it is somewhat open to debate if these hidden meanings actually account for the true origin of the carol or not.
     Whether one believes this to be true or one accepts the carol at face value is a personal decision that is theirs alone to make. What can be celebrated is the wonderful imagery of the carol—both real and symbolic—and the great fun to be had in singing it with full gusto at this glorious time of Christmas.
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Legends Abound for Lords-a-leaping and Maids-a-milking in `Twelve Days’ —  Daniel Burke
What, if anything, do they symbolize?
      It depends on whom you ask.
      The song has French origins, and was published in an English children’s book called “Mirth without Mischief” around 1780. Most people believe it began as a memory game sung at Twelfth Night parties. The 12 days of Christmas in Western Christianity refer to the time between Christ’s birth on Dec. 25 and the arrival of the Magi to honor the newborn, known as Epiphany, on Jan. 6.
       In recent times, the song has been searched for coded references to Catholic doctrine, ancient Egyptian holidays, Roman myths, and the menu at medieval feasts. It has even become an annual index of economic inflation…
       In the 1990s, a story began floating around the Internet that “The Twelve Days” was used as a secret catechism by Catholics persecuted after the Reformation in England. The “true love” who offers the gifts refers to God, according to this theory. The partridge is Jesus, the two turtle doves are the Old and New Testaments, the three French hens represent the virtues of faith, hope and charity, and so on.
       But California folklorists who run Snopes.com, an urban legend website, dispute the catechism tale. None of the tenets supposedly encoded in the song were points of conflict between Anglicans and Catholics, the website notes, so there would have been no reason to keep them secret. Also, it’s impractical to rely on a seasonal song to teach the faith, the folklorists said. What did persecuted Catholics do for the rest of the year?
       William Studwell, who was considered the dean of Christmas carol scholarship before he died last August, was also skeptical.
       “If there was such a catechism device, a secret code, it was derived from the original secular song,” he said in a 2008 interview with Religion News Service. “It’s a derivative, not the source.”
       “The song can still be used as an educational or devotional tool by using the symbols as a mnemonic device,” said the Rev. Dennis Bratcher, a Church of the Nazarene minister and director of the Christian Resource Institute. “Many Christians today hear the song in those terms anyway, regardless of its origins.”
      …. Leigh Grant, who wrote and illustrated a children’s book about “The Twelve Days,” said the gifts are popular parts of medieval feasts, often held during Twelfth Night celebrations. The birds were eaten while the pipers, drummers, and lords entertained the guests. The five golden rings in the song refer not to jewelry, but to ring-necked pheasants.
        But the song is also rife with symbolism, Grant said.
        Partridges and pears, for instance, were considered emblems of fertility during the Renaissance, she said. Likewise, geese and swans were seen as intermediaries between the earth and the sky, and thus humans and heaven.
        “I’ve heard a lot of theories about this song,” Grant said, “and I don’t know if any of them are true. But what often happens to songs is that people change them, and so does the meaning people find in them.” ….

ten lords a leaping — Dave Snowden
So we have a choice between the ten commandments or a reference to cuckoos. As a symbol of immorality and disorder it fits with Christmas as a time of misrule and sexual license. It also carries a sense of reversal, for that period a labourer might be a lord. With Ladies, drummers and pipers you get a real sense of a major party being set up. By the time the song is sung in full we will have 36 ladies, 30 lords, 22 pipers and 12 drummers! Some sources also suggest the extended impact of drugs (specifically the post 16th Century use of the ergot fungus) and alcohol.
       So lets party. The Lords of Misrule; appointed by lot to preside over the Feast of Fools at Christmas/Saturnalia have a long history. For a temporary period servants became the masters, satire ruled the rulers and they had to show good humour. In some darker legends the Lord of Misrule had total license for a period but was then ritually sacrificed given a whole new take on feast, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die: licence has consequences in the sense of 1 Corinthians 15:32 but I may be stretching things a bit there. interestingly the practice was banned by Henry VIII, restored by Mary I and then banned again by Elizabeth I which says a lot. Mary always gets a bad press, but then she didn’t have Shakespeare to run her propaganda machine.

Commentary: Lords a-leaping or a leap of faith? — St. Louis Public Radio — Paul Harrington, full article: https://news.stlpublicradio.org/arts/2010-12-24/commentary-lords-a-leaping-or-a-leap-of-faith

It’s typical these days to encounter “The 12 Days of Christmas” in our culture: an uncountable number of musical variations (including the cast of “Glee” and “Winnie the Pooh,” go figure), CNN challenges to video each of the 12 gifts, analyses of the cost of the gifts, and so on.
       What’s missing is the why: Why are these 12 days called out, and what’s their significance? Why 12? When does the 12-day countdown begin? Is it just a nonsense song about trying to buy love (sorry, Beatles) with a succession of greater and greater gifts?
       Or, is it something more?… It turns out that the 12 days of Christmas have more to do with the historical Nativity of 2,000 years ago than it does with shopping at Nordstrom’s for three French hens.
       The original 12 days of Christmas are tied to the Feast of the Epiphany. In Christian religions, the Epiphany is the day that the baby Jesus was revealed to the world as the Son of God. The very word epiphany comes from the ancient Greek word epiphaneia and can be translated to mean appearance, manifestation or shining forth. The anglicized version became epiphany.
       Early Christians seem to have fixated upon the date of Jan. 6 as the date of the original Epiphany. Thus, with some quick math, we can see that the Epiphany comes 12 days after the birth of Christ on Dec. 25. Put it all together, and it’s easy to understand why the 12 days of Christmas would be commemorated in song. (Note that the Eastern churches and other religions’ calendars vary a bit on the precise date and meaning, when the 12 days begin or conclude. My vantage point is Western Christianity.)
       But there are more to the 12 days and the Feast of the Epiphany than a simple measurement of the time it took until the Magi knocked on the manger door. Certainly, over the years Christians have attached religious symbols to each of the gifts mentioned in the song: Ten lords a-leaping, for instance, can be interpreted to mean the Ten Commandments. But to me, those metaphors seem a bit forced and miss the bigger question: What do the 12 days, and the associated Epiphany, mean to believers in the Christian faiths?
       The 12 days do indeed count the magi’s journey from the east to Bethlehem; but their trip is a journey of faith, a 12-day quest to encounter the divine. The magi follow a symbol in the sky for 12 days across the harsh desert in search of an answer to the mystery of the burning star of Bethlehem. The magi were not from Israel, so their journey and subsequent homage to the child of God is interpreted to be the revelation of a divine being to the entire world. It was a true leap of faith for these men to begin a difficult adventure into the unknown in search of truth and answers.
       Could we be so bold today? If we pause to set aside all the lovely images we associate with the Nativity and the magi, and consider the dangerous reality of their holy mission, we cannot help but be impressed. It must have been a long, arduous, and trying expedition to make. An excellent poem by T.S. Eliot, “The Journey of the Magi,” eloquently captures the drama and challenge of such a daunting undertaking. The magi’s 12-day journey was a test of faith, strength, and courage, a fitting trial for three men who would eventually come face to face with God.
       On Christmas day, after the presents are unwrapped and the holiday hubbub has diminished, take a moment to ponder that the true season of Christmas is just beginning on Dec. 25. Consider that just over 2,000 years ago, brave men conquered the desert — and their fears — to make perhaps the most important journey of all time. And don’t let Jan. 6 be just another Thursday on your calendar: Remember it and honor it as the day that the majesty and power of God were revealed to us all.

Lord —  Yehudah Halevi

Translated by Peter Cole

all my desire is here before you,

     whether or not I speak of it:

I’d seek your favor, for an instant, then die—

     if only you would grant my wish.

I’d place my spirit in your hand,

     then sleep—and in that sleep find sweetness.

I wander from you—and die alive;

     the closer I cling—I live to die.

How to approach I still don’t know,

     nor on what words I might rely.

Instruct me, Lord: advise and guide me.

     Free me from my prison of lies.

Teach me while I can bear the affliction—

     do not, Lord, despise my plea;

before I’ve become my own burden

     and the little I am weighs on me,

and against my will, I give in

     as worms eat bones that weary of me.

I’ll come to the place my forefathers reached,

     and by their place of rest find rest.

Earth’s back to me is foreign;

     my one true home is in its dust.

Till now my youth has done what it would:

     When will I provide for myself?

The world He placed in my heart has kept me

     from tending to my end and after.

How could I come to serve my Lord,

     when I am still desire’s prisoner?

How could I ask for a place on high,

     when I know the worm will be my sister?

How at that end could my heart be glad,

     when I do not know what death will bring?

Day after day and night after night

     reduce the flesh upon me to nothing.

Into the winds they’ll scatter my spirit.

     To dust they’ll return the little remaining.

What can I say—with desire my enemy,

     from boyhood till now pursuing me:

What is Time to me but your Will?

     If you’re not with me, what will I be?

I stand bereft of any virtue:

     only your justice and mercy shield me.

But why should I speak, or even aspire?

     Lord, before you is all my desire.

Lord Is Not a Word — Christian Wiman

Lord is not a word.

Song is not a salve.

Suffer the child, who lived

on sunlight and solitude.

Savor the man, craving

earth like an aftertaste.

To discover in one’s hand

two local stones the size

of a dead man’s eyes

saves no one, but to fling them

with a grace you did not know

you knew, to bring them

skimming homing

over blue, is to discover

the river from which they came.

Mild merciful amnesia

through which I’ve moved

as through a blue atmosphere

of almost and was,

how is it now,

like ruins unearthed by ruin,

my childhood should rise?

Lord, suffer me to sing

these wounds by which I am made

and marred, savor this creature

whose aloneness you ease and are.

Lord Juggler  — Roberta Teale Swartz

O juggler,
With zealous face ,
In what wide market-place
Do you stand,
Your hand
Tilting thse colored spheres in a rhythmic race?

O charlatan!
When you pretend
Almost to miuss—and bend
For the crowd’s sake,
And briskly take
The tumbling ball back into its old wend—

Then how we draw
A startled breath—
As if it meant our death
To let them bound
So near the ground!
Just in the nick your palms are underneath.

But if you see—
But if your eyes
Take note of fools’ surprise,
We never know.
You do not show
Whether you’re please to trick us; you are wise.

So, juggler!
Still for awhile
These capttured wits beguile—
But having gathered im
Your globves from their spin
Reveal. before we go, how you can smile!

Day 10 of 12 Days of Christmas: Ten lords a’leaping
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