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day 1 of 12 days of christmas

Day 6 of 12 Days of Christmas: Six geese

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

Wild Geese — Frederick Peterson

How oft against the sunset sky or moon
I watched that moving zigzag of spread wings
In unforgotten Autumns gone too soon,
In unforgotten Springs!
Creatures of desolation, far they fly
Above all lands bound by the curling foam;

In misty lens, wild moors and trackless sky
These wild things have their home.
They know the tundra of Siberian coasts.
And tropic marshes by the Indian seas;
They know the clouds and night and starry hosts
From Crux to Pleiades.
Dark flying rune against the western glow—
It tells the sweep and loneliness of things,
Symbol of Autumns vanished long ago.
Symbol of coming Springs!

SONGS about GEESE:

Wild Geese — Mary Oliver
 
            You do not have to be good.
            You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
            You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
            Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
            Meanwhile the world goes on.
            Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers. 
            Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
            are heading home again.
            Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
                        the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

The Goose Explains — Amos Russel Wells

t was a goose who sadly cried,
“Alas! Alas! The farm is wide,
And large the barnyard company,
But no one ever looks at me;
There really seems to be no use,
Or praise, or glory, for a goose.

They pet the dog whose bark and bite
Scare tramps by day and thieves by night;
But when I bravely stand on guard,
And drive intruders from the yard,
They laugh at me. The kitten plays,
And all admire her cunning ways;
But when I venture in the room,
To play, in turn, some stick or broom
Soon drives me out. Those birds they call
Canaries cannot sing at all
In my sweet fashion; yet their lay
Is praised—from mine folks turn away.
They prize the horse who pulls the cart;
But when I try to do my part,
And mount the shafts to help him draw,
They whip me off. Last week I saw
Two stupid horses pull a plow,
I watched the work, I learned just how;
Then, with my bill, I did the same
In flower-beds, and got only blame.
It really seems of little use
To try to help—when one’s a goose!”

SYMBOLISM THEORIES: Six Geese A-Laying

As you will recall—for by now it’s an ear worm that you can’t stop humming—the 12 days begin on Christams Day with the partridge. On 5 or 6 of the following days, the gifts are birds, interrupted musically, thematically and enigmatically by those 5 golden rings… There have also been many Christian interpretations of this song but really no evidence to support any of them. I find the secular interpretations to be far more interesting and valid.
      In the 237 years since the rhyme was first published in English, there have been at least 20 different versions of the words, especially with respect to the birds. Some of these variants are undoubtedly Mondegreens, but they were often probably just attempts to make the words more relevant to a contemporary audience…
    The birds of days 6 and 7—the geese and the swans—round out the culinary theme before the song turns to dance providing some exercise after all that feasting, and chores that may have been neglected. — Robert Montgomerie, American Ornithology, full article: https://americanornithology.org/four-calling-birds/

One of the suggestions for the origin of The Twelve Days of Christmas is that it was intended as a ‘catechism song’, used by young Catholics to help them learn the tenets of their faith. … However, this theory has been widely refuted and although the origins of the song are unknown it’s likely that it is secular in nature, perhaps written as a memory game.
      If we continue with the medieval banqueting theme … Goose has been on the menu for Christmas dating back to the ancient Greeks. During the Middle Ages it was also the centrepiece of the feast of Michaelmas on the 29th September celebrating the end of the harvest.
      There is a legend that Queen Elizabeth I was dining on goose on the 29th of September when she received news of the destruction of the Spanish Armada and declared “Henceforth shall a goose commemorate this great victory!” therefore decreeing that goose should always be served at Michaelmas. However, the story is almost certainly apocryphal as a thanksgiving service had already taken place at St Paul’s Cathedral almost a month earlier.
     The goose referred to in this verse is probably the greylag goose, (Anser anser), and the ancestor of all domesticated geese. It was a favourite bird at medieval feasts and in Magia Naturalis, a work of popular science published in 1558, there is a recipe for a goose … — Birdspot.uk, full article: https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas

The gift of “six geese a-laying” represents another animal, food gift. While there are 30 species of wild geese in the world, the most likely bird to be this gift is the graylag goose (Anser anser). There are also more than 125 breeds of domestic geese that have been specifically bred for laying. While not as prolific as three French hens, each domestic goose can lay as many as 20 eggs per year. This gift, however, is more likely to refer to the meat, but could also be the feathers of the resulting flock, as goose down is particularly prized for winter wear and insulation, ideal for a holiday gift during the coldest season of the year. — Melissa Maentz, Farmer’s Almanac

The lyrics for the sixth day of Christmas take us back to the first story found in the Bible. Each egg is a day in creation, the time when the world was “hatched” or formed by God. The six days of creation are the first demonstration in the history of the world of God giving his people all the good gifts which they need. — Rev. Joel Gaertner

The Six Geese a Laying verse represents the fact that the world (and all that is in it) was made, by God, in six days. Just as eggs are the symbol for new life and creation, so the geese laying eggs presented the whole story of God moving His hand over the void to create life.  — Hampshire Pewter

This was not originally a Catholic song, no matter what you hear on the Internet. … Neutral reference books say this is nonsense. If there was such a catechism device, a secret code, it was derived from the original secular song. It’s a derivative, not the source. — William Studwell for Religion New Service

MORE about TWELVE DAYS of CHRISTMAS — Tanya Pai, vox.com, full article: https://www.vox.com/21796404/12-days-of-christmas-explained
To calculate the cost of all the gifts in “The 12 Days of Christmas,” I’ll turn to the PNC financial services group’s annual Christmas Price Index, which PNC has been putting out since 1984; it calculates the cost of all the gifts in the song based on current market rates. Given the current pace of inflation, this smorgasbord of gift-giving is extra-costly this year: The total for 2022 comes to a whopping $45,523.27, up 10.5 percent from 2021 prices, or $197,071.09 if you count each mention of an item separately (which would amount to 364 gifts in all) — a 9.8 percent increase from last year.
     The rising price of items like gold and fertilizer means those five rings ($1,245, a 39 percent increase) and the infamous partridge in a pear tree ($280.18, up nearly 26 percent) are costlier than ever. Some things haven’t changed at all, though — as the index points out, the federal minimum wage hasn’t increased since 2009, meaning the rate for eight maids a-milking is holding steady at a relative steal of $58.
     No matter the cost, though, actually giving someone all this stuff is probably not a great idea; just think of all the bird poo.

ALSO:

     If you ate all of the birds in one day, including the pheasant pie, but not including all the trimmings for the other dishes, and subtracted the energy you expended milking, dancing, leaping, and drumming, you’d have consumed 2,384 net calories. That’s really not bad, considering the average American Thanksgiving dinner adds up to about 4,500 calories.

Day 1 of 12 Days of Christmas: Partridge Meditation

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

On Partridges

What is a country without rabbits and partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times; of the very hue and substance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to the ground.— Henry David Thoreau

If the partridge didn’t call at the wrong moment, Neither the hunter nor the falcon would know of it. It follows from this point also, That everyone’s voice betrays him.— Rahman Baba

No clouds are in the morning sky,
The vapors hug the stream,
Who says that life and love can die
In all this northern gleam?
At every turn the maples burn,
The quail is whistling free,
The partridge whirs, and the frosted burs
Are dropping for you and me…
— Edmund Clarence Stedman (poem excerpt)

On Pear Trees

She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight — Zora Neale Hurston

Whatever you do, do it gently and unhurriedly, because virtue is not a pear to be eaten in one bite. — Seraphim of Sarov

A man watches his pear-tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap. — Abraham LincolnOh to be a pear tree – any tree in bloom! With kissing bees singing of the beginning of the world! — Zora Neale Hurston

Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself. — William Martin

SONGS about PARTRIDGES:

Sage Fright — Freddie Robinson Jr

I’m a-starting to
*pavo tremble this time of year
From all of the oven symbols rack-et
I hear I’m a seasoned Mestizo pheasant,
best strutting actress
in the whole Oaxaca alfalfa field

But I’m beginning to feel
a bite unpleasant,
putting on my best plumage dress
Nervously a-wait
the cleaver
applause build

Henpeck been the best partridge breeder,
top ingenue impresario
Now it’s curtain time
to have a successor,
exit thru the oven door
I see the buy-peddles
turning on the kitchen light

And platter shadows
is giving me bye sage fright
No more starlet
gobble time in the summer day breeze
End of peacock pantomime
under those chestnut trees

Sage fright is real grouse,
as grouse real can be
But, Ms. Guajolote is gon disorderly peck-y,
strut into the Usher house —
Go out in a blade of glory!

Get some carving satisfaction,
when my wishbone performance
get the Red Cross salute
Feast table
Heimlich m action,
calculate no glut survival chance

Best snood bow exit route
Go out in a blade of glory!
Be a theatrical proud grouse
As leftovers get cast from the pall
Festive house

Note from poet: This poem was inspired by the great poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar. From his poem, “Soliloquy of a Turkey.”
*Pavo is the Spanish word for “turkey.”

What are the 12 days of Christmas? (full article: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/christmas-ideas/a29212592/12-days-of-christmas-meaning-facts/)

The “12 Days of Christmas” referenced in the carol reference the 12 days following Christmas, also known as Twelvetide in Christianity. The period begins with the birth of Christ on December 25th and ends with the coming of the Three Wise Men on January 6th, also known as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. The weeks before Christmas are known as Advent …Is there a hidden meaning behind the “12 Days of Christmas” song?

There’s a theory floating around claiming that during a time when Christians were punished for worshiping openly, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” song was used to secretly pass on the ideology of Christianity. Per this theory, each gift on the list symbolizes a different aspect of the Christian faith:

  • The Partridge in the Pear Tree is Jesus Christ.
  • The 2 Turtle Doves are The Old and New Testaments.
  • The 3 French hens are Faith, Hope and Charity, the theological virtues.
  • The 4 Calling Birds are the four gospels and/or the four evangelists.
  • The 5 Golden Rings are the first five books of the Old Testament.
  • The 6 Geese A-laying are the six days of creation.
  • The 7 Swans A-swimming are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments.
  • The 8 Maids A-milking are the eight beatitudes.
  • The 9 Ladies Dancing are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.
  • The 10 Lords A-leaping are the ten commandments.
  • The 11 Pipers Piping are the eleven faithful apostles.
  • The 12 Drummers Drumming are the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed.

But while it is true that the “12 days” reference the days between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, Snopes breaks down the many historical and logistical errors in the “hidden meanings” theory,

Where do the “12 Days of Christmas” lyrics come from? (full article: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/christmas-ideas/a29212592/12-days-of-christmas-meaning-facts/)

Though some scholars believe that the song is French in origin, the first printed appearance of the song was in the English children’s book Mirth With-out Mischief. If you haven’t heard of it, that’s probably because it was published in 1780. …

In the original lyrics, the “four calling birds” were actually “four colly birds.” The term “colly” is old English slang for blackbirds. In other old versions of the song, the partridge we all know and love is replaced with a “very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.” There’s also a Scottish version that gifts “an Arabian baboon.” It wasn’t until 1909 that British composer Frederic Austin penned the version of the lyrics that we are all familiar with today.

Most historians believe that the Christmas carol started out as a “memory-and-forfeit” game in 1800s England. These types of games were played by British school children and the rules were simple: When it’s your turn, you repeat all the previously sung lyrics and add the next one. If you can’t remember a verse, you owe your opponent a “forfeit,” which was usually a kiss or a piece of candy.

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