View source for The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)

{{short description|English Christmas carol}}
{{About|the Christmas carol|other uses|The Twelve Days of Christmas (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{EngvarB|date=December 2021}}
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{{Infobox song
| name       = The Twelve Days of Christmas
| cover      = XRF 12days.jpg
| alt        =
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| published  = {{circa}} 1780
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| genre      = [[Christmas carol]]
| length     =
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| writer     =
| composer   = Traditional with additions by [[Frederic Austin]]
| lyricist   =
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}}

"'''The Twelve Days of Christmas'''" is an English [[Christmas carol]]. A classic example of a [[cumulative song]], the  [[lyrics]] detail a series of increasingly numerous gifts given to the speaker by their "true love" on each of the [[twelve days of Christmas]] (the twelve days that make up the [[Christmastide|Christmas season]], starting with [[Christmas Day]]).<ref name=Truscott>{{cite book|quote=As with the [[Easter]] cycle, churches today celebrate the Christmas cycle in different ways. Practically all Protestants observe Christmas itself, with services on 25 December or the evening before. [[Anglican]]s, [[Lutheran]]s and other churches that use the ecumenical ''Revised Common Lectionary'' will likely observe the four Sundays of [[Advent]], maintaining the ancient emphasis on the eschatological (First Sunday), ascetic (Second and Third Sundays), and scriptural/historical (Fourth Sunday). Besides Christmas Eve/Day, they will observe a 12-day ''season'' of Christmas from 25 December to 5 January.|last=Truscott|first=Jeffrey A. |date=2011|title=Worship|publisher=Armour Publishing|isbn=9789814305419|page=103}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Brian |title=But Do You Recall? 25 Days of Christmas Carols and the Stories Behind Them|year=2015|page=114|quote=Called Christmastide or Twelvetide, this twelve-day version began on December 25, Christmas Day, and lasted until the evening of January 5. During Twelvetide, other feast days are celebrated.}}</ref> The carol, whose words were first published in England in the late eighteenth century, has a [[Roud Folk Song Index]] number of 68.  A large number of different melodies have been associated with the song, of which the best known is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer [[Frederic Austin]].

== Lyrics ==
[[File:12 days angus.png|thumb|Anonymous broadside, Angus, Newcastle, 1774–1825]]
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a [[cumulative song]], meaning that each verse is built on top of the previous verses. There are twelve verses, each describing a gift given by "my true love" on one of the twelve days of Christmas.
There are many variations in the lyrics. The lyrics given here are from [[Frederic Austin]]'s 1909 publication that established the current form of the carol.{{sfnp|Austin|1909}} The first three verses run, in full, as follows:
{{blockquote|
<poem>
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent<!-- Please do not change; 20th-century variation "gave" is discussed below; "sent" is in all early sources including Austin (1909)--> to me
A [[partridge]] in a [[pear]] tree

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two [[Streptopelia|turtle doves]],
''And a partridge in a pear tree.''

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three [[Faverolles chicken|French hens]],
''Two turtle doves,''
''And a partridge in a pear tree.''
</poem>
}}

Subsequent verses follow the same pattern. Each verse deals with the next day of [[Christmastide]], adding one new gift and then repeating all the earlier gifts, so that each verse is one line longer than its predecessor.
* four calling birds<!-- "Colly birds" in the 1780 original; many 19th century variations; "Calling birds" in Austin (1909) and most common in the 20th century. Please do not change: variation is discussed below -->
* five gold rings<!-- Gold rings is correct. Do not change to golden rings:  variation is discussed below -->
* six [[goose|geese]] a-laying
* seven [[swan]]s a-swimming
* eight [[Milkmaid|maids a-milking]]
* nine [[lady|ladies]] dancing<!-- Order of last 4 verses from Austin (1909); variation in order of last 4 verses is discussed below -->
* ten [[lord]]s a-leaping
* eleven [[Pipe (instrument)|pipers]] piping
* twelve [[drummer]]s drumming

=== Variations of the lyrics ===
[[File:12-days-title.png|thumb|upright|First page of the carol, from ''Mirth Without Mischief'' (c. 1780)]]

The earliest known publications of the words to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" were an illustrated children's book, ''Mirth Without Mischief'', published in [[London]] in 1780, and a  [[broadsheet]] by Angus, of [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]], dated to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries.<ref name="mirth_without_mischief" /><ref name="angus"/>

While the words as published in ''Mirth Without Mischief'' and the Angus broadsheet were almost identical, subsequent versions (beginning with [[James Orchard Halliwell]]'s ''Nursery Rhymes of England'' of 1842) have displayed considerable variation:<ref name="halliwell_1842"/>

* In early versions, at the beginning of each verse, the word ''on'' is skipped; for example, the last verse begins simply as "The twelfth day of Christmas".  ''On'' was added in Austin's 1909 version, and became very popular thereafter.
* In the early versions "my true love sent to me" the gifts. However, a 20th-century variant has "my true love ''gave'' to me"; this wording has become particularly common in North America.<ref name="swortzell">For example, {{cite book| title=A Partridge in a Pear Tree: A Comedy in One Act |first=Lowell |last=Swortzell |publisher=Samuel French |year=1966 |isbn=0-573-66311-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7_klr934_EC |location=New York |page=20}}</ref>
* In one 19th-century variant, the gifts come from "my ''mother''" rather than "my true love".
* Some variants have "''[[juniper]]'' tree" or "''June [[apple]]'' tree" rather than "pear tree", which is likely a mishearing of "partri''dge in a pear'' tree".
* The 1780 version has "four [[common blackbird|colly birds]]"—''colly'' being a regional English expression for "coal-black" (the [[Collie#Name|name of the collie dog breed]] may come from this word).<ref>http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/colly, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/collie</ref><ref name=abcog />  This wording must have been opaque to many even in the 19th century: "[[Domestic canary|canary birds]]", "colour'd birds", "curley birds", and "corley birds" are found in its place.  Austin's 1909 version, which introduced the now-standard melody, also changed the fourth gift to four "calling" birds, and this variant has become the most popular, although "colly" is still occasionally found.{{Original research inline|date=December 2021}}
* "Five gold rings" has often become "five ''golden'' rings", especially in North America since the 1961 recording by Mitch Miller and the Gang.<ref name="swortzell" /> In the standard melody, this change enables singers to fit one syllable per musical note.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_655519.html |title=Gold keeps the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' cost a-leaping |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]] |access-date=8 December 2009 |archive-date=1 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201215115/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_655519.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* The gifts associated with the final four days are often reordered.  For example, the pipers may be on the ninth day rather than the eleventh.<ref name=abcog>{{cite web |url=http://www.abcog.org/12days.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817040054/http://www.abcog.org/12days.htm |archive-date=17 August 2012 |publisher=Active Bible Church of God, Chicago (Hyde Park), Illinois |title=The Twelve Days of Christmas |access-date=16 December 2014}} Annotations reprinted from ''4000 Years of Christmas'' by Earl W. Count (New York: Henry Schuman, 1948).</ref>

For ease of comparison with Austin's 1909 version given above:
{{olist|list-style-type=lower-alpha
| differences in wording, ignoring capitalisation and punctuation, are indicated in ''italics'' (including permutations, where for example the 10th day of Austin's version becomes the 9th day here);
| items that do not appear at all in Austin's version are indicated in '''''bold italics'''''.
}}
<div style="overflow-x: auto">
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Source
!Giver
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
! 8
! 9
! 10
! 11
! 12
|-
| ''Mirth Without<br />Mischief'', 1780<ref name="mirth_without_mischief">{{cite book|title=Mirth without Mischief|last=Anonymous |publisher=Printed by J. Davenport, George's Court, for C. Sheppard, no. 8, Aylesbury Street, Clerkenwell |location=London |year=1780|pages=5–16|url=https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n3/mode/2up}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| [[Partridge]] in a pear-tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colly''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a laying
| Swans a swimming
| Maids a milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a leaping''
|-
| Angus, 1774–1825<ref name="angus">{{cite book|title=The Twelve Days of Christmas |publisher=Angus |location=Newcastle |url=http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/view/edition/12086 |via=Bodleian Library}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge in a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colly''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a laying
| Swans a swimming
| Maids a milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a leaping''
|-
| Baring-Gould, c. 1840 (1974<!-- it really is 1974 -- please don't change! -->)<ref name="cecily"/>
| My true love sent to me
| '''''Part of a juniper tree'''''
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colley''''' birds
| '''''A golden ring'''''
| Geese a laying
| Swans a swimming
| '''''Hares a running'''''
| Ladies dancing
| Lords '''''a playing'''''
| '''''Bears a baiting'''''
| '''''Bulls a roaring'''''
|-
| Halliwell, 1842<ref name="halliwell_1842">{{cite book |title=The Nursery Rhymes of England |first=James Orchard |last=Halliwell |series=Early English poetry, v. IV. |publisher=Percy Society |location=London |year=1842 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/iau.31858030563740?urlappend=%3Bseq=397 |pages=127–128 |hdl=2027/iau.31858030563740?urlappend=%3Bseq=397 }}</ref>
| My '''''mother''''' sent to me
| Partridge in a pear-tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Canary''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a laying
| Swans a swimming
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a leaping''
| '''''Ships a sailing'''''
| '''''Ladies spinning'''''
| '''''Bells ringing'''''
|-
| Rimbault, 1846<ref name="rimbault">{{cite book |title=Nursery Rhymes, with the Tunes to Which They Are Still Sung in the Nurseries of England |first=Edward F. |last=Rimbault |publisher=Cramer, Beale & Co. |location=London|year=n.d. |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89101217990?urlappend=%3Bseq=84 |pages=52–53 |hdl=2027/wu.89101217990?urlappend=%3Bseq=84 }} Undated; date of 1846 confirmed by [http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/28049/N_Nursery_rhymes.pdf this catalogue from the Bodleian Library (p. 112)], and an advertisement in the ''Morning Herald'' ({{cite journal |journal=Morning Herald |date=25 December 1846 |page=8 |title=Christmas Carols}}).</ref>
| My '''''mother''''' sent to me
| '''''Parteridge''''' in a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Canary''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a laying
| Swans a swimming
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a leaping''
| '''''Ships a sailing'''''
| '''''Ladies spinning'''''
| '''''Bells ringing'''''
|-
| Halliwell, 1853<ref>{{cite book|title=The Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England |first = James Orchard|last=Halliwell|edition=Fifth |publisher=Frederick Warne and Co. |location=London|year=1853|url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31175013944015?urlappend=%3Bseq=97|pages=73–74|hdl = 2027/uc1.31175013944015?urlappend=%3Bseq=97}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge in a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colly''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a laying
| Swans a swimming
| Maids a milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a leaping''
|-
| Salmon, 1855<ref name="salmon">{{cite journal |journal=Notes and Queries |volume=xii |date=29 December 1855 |title=Christmas Jingle |first=Robert S. |last=Salmon |pages=506–507 |location=London |publisher=George Bell |hdl=2027/nyp.33433081666293?urlappend=%3Bseq=618 |url=https://archive.org/details/notesqueriesmedi12lond/page/506/mode/2up}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge ''upon'' a pear-tree
| Turtle-doves
| French hens
| '''''Collie''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a-leaping''
|-
| Caledonian, 1858<ref name="caledonian">{{cite journal |journal=The Caledonian |volume=22 |issue=25 |date=25 December 1858 |title=Christmas Carol |page=1 |location=St. Johnsbury, VT |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19746613/twelve_days_of_christmas/}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge ''upon'' a pear-tree
| Turtle-doves
| French hens
| '''''Collie''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| '''''Fifers fifing'''''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a-leaping''
|-
| Husk, 1864{{sfnp|Husk|1864|pp=181–185}}
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge in a pear-tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colley''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a-leaping''
|-
| Hughes, 1864<ref name="hughes">[[Thomas Hughes]], "The Ashen Fagot", in {{cite book|title=Household Friends for Every Season |publisher=Ticknor and Fields |location=Boston, MA |year=1864|url=https://archive.org/stream/householdfriend00fielgoog#page/n57/mode/2up|page=34}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge '''''and''''' a pear tree
| Turtle-doves
| '''''Fat''''' hens
| '''''Ducks quacking'''''
| '''''Hares running'''''
| "and so on"
| {{sdash}}
| {{sdash}}
| {{sdash}}
| {{sdash}}
| {{sdash}}
| {{sdash}}
|-
| Cliftonian, 1867<ref name="cliftonian">{{cite journal|journal=The Cliftonian |date=December 1867 |author=An Antiquarian|publisher=J. Baker |location=Clifton, Bristol |title=Christmas Carols |url=https://archive.org/details/cliftonianamaga00englgoog/page/n169/mode/2up |pages=145–146}}</ref>
| My true-love sent to me
| Partridge in a pear-tree
| Turtle-doves
| French hens
| '''''Colley''''' birds
| Gold rings
| '''''Ducks''''' a-laying
| Swans ''swimming''
| '''''Hares a-running'''''
| Ladies dancing
| Lords a-leaping
| '''''Badgers baiting'''''
| '''''Bells a-ringing'''''
|-
| Clark, 1875<ref>{{cite book|title=Jolly Games for Happy Homes |first=Georgiana C. |last=Clark|publisher=Dean & Son |location=London |year=c. 1875|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D0ICAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA238 |pages=238–242}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge in a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colour'd''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese ''laying''
| Swans ''swimming''
| Maids ''milking''
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords leaping''
|-
| Kittredge, 1877 (1917)<ref name="Kittredge 1917">{{cite journal|quote=Taken down by G. L. Kittredge, Dec. 30, 1877, from the singing of Mrs Sarah G. Lewis of Barnstaple, Mass. (born in Boston, 1799). Mrs. Lewis learned the song when a young girl from her grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Gorham.|url=https://archive.org/stream/journalamerican05unkngoog#page/n382/mode/2up/|title=Ballads and Songs|editor-first=G. L.|editor-last=Kittredge|journal=The Journal of American Folk-Lore|volume=XXX|issue=CXVII|date=July–September 1917|location=Lancaster, PA|publisher=American Folk-Lore Society|pages=365–367}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| '''''Some part of a juniper tree/And some part of a juniper tree'''''
| ''French hens''
| ''Turtle doves''
| '''''Colly''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| [forgotten by the singer]
| '''''Lambs a-bleating'''''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| '''''Lords a-leading'''''
| '''''Bells a-ringing'''''
|-
| Henderson, 1879<ref name="henderson">{{cite book|title=Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders |first=William |last=Henderson |publisher=Satchell, Peyton and Co.|location=London|year=1879|url=https://archive.org/stream/notesonfolkloreo00hendiala#page/70/mode/2up|pages=71}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge ''upon'' a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Curley''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese ''laying''
| Swans ''swimming''
| Maids ''milking''
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| {{sdash}}
| {{sdash}}
|-
| Barnes, 1882<ref name="barnes">{{cite journal|journal=Dorset County Chronicle and Somersetshire Gazette |title=Dorset Folk-lore and Antiquities |first=W. |last=Barnes |date=9 February 1882 |page=15
 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000408/18820209/095/0015}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| '''''The sprig of a juniper tree'''''
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Coloured''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| '''''Hares a-running'''''
| '''''Bulls a-roaring'''''
| '''''Men a-mowing'''''
| '''''Dancers a-dancing'''''
| '''''Fiddlers a-fiddling'''''
|-
| Stokoe, 1882<ref name="stokoe">{{cite book |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c034406758?urlappend=%3Bseq=147%3Bownerid=13510798903884033-151 |pages=129–131 |title=Northumbrian Ministrelsy |first1=J. Collingwood |last1=Bruce |first2=John |last2=Stokoe |publisher=Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne |year=1882|hdl=2027/uc1.c034406758?urlappend=%3Bseq=147 }}.  Reprinted at {{cite journal|journal=The Monthly Chronicle of North-country Lore and Legend |date=January 1888 |title=The North-Country Garland of Song

 |first=John |last=Stokoe |publisher=Walter Scott|location=Newcastle upon Tyne|url=https://archive.org/details/s7643id1398985/page/40/mode/2up |pages=41–42}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge ''on'' a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colly''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a leaping''
|-
| Kidson, 1891<ref name="kidson"/>
| My true love sent to me
| ''Merry'' partridge ''on'' a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colley''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
| ''Lords a leaping''
|-
| [[William Bell Scott|Scott]], 1892<ref name="scott">{{cite book|title=Autobiographical Notes on the Life of William Bell Scott, vol. i |editor-first=W. |editor-last=Minto |publisher=James R. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co.|location=London|year=1892|url=https://archive.org/stream/autobiographywbs01scott#page/186/mode/2up |pages=186–187}}</ref>
| My true love ''brought'' to me
| '''''Very pretty peacock''' upon'' a pear tree
| Turtle-doves
| French hens
| '''''Corley''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| ''Pipers playing''
| ''Drummers drumming''
| '''''Lads a-louping'''''
| ''Ladies dancing''
|-
| Cole, 1900<ref name="jaf">{{cite journal|title=The Twelve Days of Christmas; A Nursery Song |journal=Journal of American Folk-Lore |volume=xiii |issue=xlviii |date=January–March 1900
 |first=Pamela McArthur|last=Cole |publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sR6dAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA230|pages=229–230}}; "obtained from Miss Nichols (Salem, Mass., about 1800)"</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| ''Parteridge'' ''upon'' a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Colly''''' birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a laying
| '''''Squabs''''' a swimming
| '''''Hounds a running'''''
| '''''Bears a beating'''''
| '''''Cocks a crowing'''''
| ''Lords a leaping''
| ''Ladies a dancing''
|-
| Sharp, 1905<ref name="somerset" />
| My true love sent to me
| ''Goldie ring, and the part of a June apple tree''
| Turtle doves, ''and the part of a mistletoe bough''
| French hens
| '''''Colley''''' birds
| ''Goldie'' rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| '''''Boys a-singing'''''
| Ladies dancing
| '''''Asses racing'''''
| '''''Bulls a-beating'''''
| '''''Bells a-ringing'''''
|-
| Leicester Daily Post, 1907<ref>{{cite news|newspaper= Leicester Daily Post |title=Old Carols |date=26 December 1907 |page=3 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002148/19071226/060/0003}}{{subscription required|via=britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk}}</ref>
| My true love sent to me
| ''A partridge upon a pear-tree''
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Collie dogs'''''
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a milking
| Drummers drumming
| Pipers playing
| Ladies dancing
| Lords a-leaping
|-
| Austin, 1909{{sfnp|Austin|1909}}
| My true love sent to me
| Partridge in a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| Calling birds
| Gold rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| Ladies dancing
| Lords a-leaping
| Pipers piping
| Drummers drumming
|-
| Swortzell, 1966<ref name="swortzell" />
| My true love ''gave'' to me
| Partridge in a pear tree
| Turtle doves
| French hens
| '''''Collie''''' birds
| ''Golden'' rings
| Geese a-laying
| Swans a-swimming
| Maids a-milking
| ''Pipers piping''
| ''Drummers drumming''
| ''Lords a-leaping''
| ''Ladies dancing''
|}
</div>
==== Scotland ====
A similar cumulative verse from Scotland, "The Yule Days", has been likened to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in the scholarly literature.<ref name="Kittredge 1917"/> It has thirteen days rather than twelve, and the number of gifts does not increase in the manner of "The Twelve Days".  Its final verse, as published in Chambers, ''Popular Rhymes, Fireside Stories, and Amusements of Scotland'' (1842), runs as follows:<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dpWAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA49 |pages=49–50 |first=Robert |last=Chambers |title=Popular Rhymes, Fireside Stories, and Amusements, of Scotland |year=1842 |publisher=William and Robert Chambers |location=Edinburgh}}</ref>
{{blockquote|

<poem>The king sent his lady on the thirteenth Yule day,
Three stalks o' merry corn,
Three maids a-merry dancing,
Three hinds a-merry hunting,
An Arabian baboon,
Three swans a-merry swimming,
Three ducks a-merry laying,
A bull that was brown,
Three goldspinks,
Three starlings,
A goose that was grey,
Three plovers,
Three partridges,
A pippin go aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away?
</poem>}}

"Pippin go aye" (also spelled "papingo-aye" in later editions) is a [[Scots language|Scots]] word for peacock<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Chambers |edition=third |year=1847 |title=Popular Rhymes of Scotland |publisher=W. and R. Chambers |location=Edinburgh |pages=198–199 |url=https://archive.org/stream/selectwritingsr00chamgoog#page/n203/mode/1up}}</ref> or parrot.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/papingo |title=Dictionary of the Scots Languages |access-date=15 March 2017}}</ref>

Similarly, Iceland has a Christmas tradition where "[[Yule Lads]]" put gifts in the shoes of children for each of the 13 nights of Christmas.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

==== Faroe Islands ====
[[File:Faroe stamp 263 the twelve days of christmas2.jpg|thumb|One of the two "Twelve Days of Christmas" [[Faroe Islands|Faroe]] stamps]]
In the [[Faroe Islands]], there is a comparable counting Christmas song. The gifts include: one feather, two geese, three sides of meat, four sheep, five cows, six oxen, seven dishes, eight ponies, nine banners, ten barrels, eleven goats, twelve men, thirteen hides, fourteen rounds of cheese and fifteen deer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danstopicals.com/countingsong.htm|title=Another Counting Song|access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref> These were illustrated in 1994 by local cartoonist Óli Petersen (born 1936) on a series of two stamps issued by the Faroese Philatelic Office.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.stamps.fo/ShopItem/1994/0/PPA311094/SETT |title=The twelve Days of Christmas - Set of mint |access-date=28 January 2021 |publisher=[[Posta (company)|Posta]]}}</ref>

==== Sweden ====
In [[Blekinge]] and [[Småland]], southern Sweden, a similar song was also sung. It featured one hen, two barley seeds, three grey geese, four pounds of pork, six flayed sheep, a sow with six pigs, seven [[åtting]] grain, eight grey foals with golden saddles, nine newly born cows, ten pairs of oxen, eleven clocks, and finally twelve churches, each with twelve altars, each with twelve priests, each with twelve capes, each with twelve coin-purses, each with twelve [[Scandinavian daler|daler]] inside.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://luf.ht.lu.se/SerM/04501-05000/M%204874%20sid.%201-2.pdf |title=Archived copy |website=luf.ht.lu.se |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007220816/https://luf.ht.lu.se/SerM/04501-05000/M%204874%20sid.%201-2.pdf |archive-date=7 October 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>https://katalog.visarkiv.se/lib/views/rec/ShowRecord.aspx?id=697897 (7:00-10:00)</ref>

==== France ====
"Les Douze Mois" ("The Twelve Months") (also known as "La Perdriole"—"The Partridge")<ref>Ruth Rubin, ''Voices of a People: The Story of Yiddish Folksong'', {{ISBN|0-252-06918-8}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gWJiUNy-jeUC&pg=PA465 p. 465]</ref> is another similar cumulative verse from France that has been likened to ''The Twelve Days of Christmas''.<ref name="Kittredge 1917"/> Its final verse, as published in de Coussemaker, ''Chants Populaires des Flamands de France'' (1856), runs as follows:<ref name="coussemaker">{{cite book |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044040412256?urlappend=%3Bseq=187 |pages=133–135 |first=E[dmond] |last=de Coussemaker |title=Chants Populaires des Flamands de France |year=1856 |publisher=Gyselynck |location=Gand|hdl=2027/hvd.32044040412256?urlappend=%3Bseq=181 }}</ref>

{{verse translation
|lang=fr
|Le douzièm' jour d'l'année,
Que me donn'rez vous ma mie?
Douze coqs chantants,
Onze plats d'argent,
Dix pigeons blancs,
Neuf bœufs cornus,
Huit vaches mordants,
Sept moulins à vent,
Six chiens courants,
Cinq lapins courant par terre,
Quat' canards volant en l'air,
Trois rameaux de bois,
Deux tourterelles,
Un' perdrix sole,
Qui va, qui vient, qui vole,
Qui vole dans les bois.
|The twelfth day of the year
What will you give me, my love?
Twelve singing cockerels,
Eleven silver dishes,
Ten white pigeons,
Nine horned oxen,
Eight biting cows,
Seven windmills,
Six running dogs,
Five rabbits running along the ground,
Four ducks flying in the air,
Three wooden branches,
Two turtle doves,
One lone partridge,
Who goes, who comes, who flies,
Who flies in the woods.}}

According to de Coussemaker, the song was recorded "in the part of [French] Flanders that borders on the [[Pas de Calais]]".<ref name="coussemaker"/>
Another similar folksong, "Les Dons de l'An", was recorded in the [[Cambresis]] region of France.  Its final verse, as published in 1864, runs:<ref>{{cite book |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.a0000757377?urlappend=%3Bseq=135%3Bownerid=13510798902864194-155 |page=127 |title=Chants et Chansons Populaires du Cambresis |first1=A. |last1=Durieux |first2=A. |last2=Bruyelle |year=1864 |location=Cambrai|hdl=2027/uc1.a0000757377?urlappend=%3Bseq=135 }}</ref><ref>For another version with a melody, see {{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/RevueDesTraditionsPopulaires7/page/n45/mode/2up |pages=34–36 |first=E. T. |last=Hamy |title=Le Premier Mois de l'Année |journal=Revue des Traditions Populaires |volume=7 |number=1 |date=1892-01-15 |location=Paris}}</ref>

{{verse translation
|lang=fr
|Le douzièm' mois de l'an,
que donner à ma mie?
Douz' bons larrons,
Onze bons jambons,
Dix bons dindons,
Neuf bœufs cornus,
Huit moutons tondus,
Sept chiens courants,
Six lièvres aux champs,
Cinq lapins trottant par terre,
Quatre canards volant en l'air,
Trois ramiers de bois,
Deux tourterelles,
Une pertriolle,
Qui vole, et vole, et vole,
Une pertriolle,
Qui vole
Du bois au champ.
|The twelfth month of the year
What should I give my love?
Twelve good cheeses,<ref>Durielles & Bruyelles, ''op. cit.'', p. 127: "Petit fromage de Maroilles (arrondissement d'Avesnes)".</ref>
Eleven good hams,
Ten good turkeycocks,
Nine horned oxen,
Eight sheared sheep,
Seven running dogs,
Six hares in the field,
Five rabbits trotting along the ground,
Four ducks flying in the air,
Three wood pigeons,
Two turtle doves,
One young partridge,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/faunepopulaired01rollgoog/page/336/mode/2up |quote=Les jeunes perdrix de l'année sont appelées [...] PERTRIOLLE ''f''. Flandres, Vermesse. |page=336 |title=Faune Populaire de la France |first=Eugène |last=Rolland |year=1877 |location=Paris |publisher=Maisonneuve}}</ref>
Who flies, who flies, who flies,
One young partridge,
Who flies
From the wood to the field.}}

== History and meaning ==
===Origins===
The exact origins and the meaning of the song are unknown, but it is highly probable that it originated from a children's memory and forfeit game.<ref>Mark Lawson-Jones, ''Why was the Partridge in the Pear Tree?: The History of Christmas Carols'', 2011, {{ISBN|0-7524-7750-1}}</ref>

The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting with [[Christmas Day]] to the day before [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]] (6 January). [[Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night]] is defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "the evening of January 5th, the day before Epiphany, which traditionally marks the end of Christmas celebrations".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Twelfth Night noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | website=[[Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary]] |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/twelfth-night#:~:text=%25E2%2580%258Bthe%2520evening%2520of%2520January,is%2520a%2520complicated%2520love%2520story. |access-date=9 January 2021 }}</ref>
[[File:Twelve Lords a Leaping.png|thumb|Illustration of "Twelve Lords a Leaping", from ''Mirth Without Mischief'']]
The best known English version was first printed in ''Mirth without Mischief'', a children's book published in London around 1780. The work was heavily illustrated with woodcuts, attributed in one source to [[Thomas Bewick]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/b24863944/page/722/mode/2up |page=678 |title=History of Clerkenwell |first=William J. |last=Pinks |editor-first=Edward J. |editor-last=Wood |location=London |publisher=Charles Herbert |year=1881 |edition=second}}</ref>

In the northern counties of England, the song was often called the "Ten Days of Christmas", as there were only ten gifts. It was also known in [[Somerset]], [[Dorset]], and elsewhere in England. The kinds of gifts vary in a number of the versions, some of them becoming alliterative tongue-twisters.{{sfnp|Yoffie|1949|p=400}} "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was also widely popular in the United States and Canada. It is mentioned in the section on "Chain Songs" in [[Stith Thompson]]'s [[Motif (folkloristics)#Thompson's Motif-Index|''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'']] (Indiana University Studies, Vol. 5, 1935), p.&nbsp;416.

There is evidence pointing to the North of England, specifically the area around [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], as the origin of the carol. Husk, in the 1864 excerpt quoted below, stated that the carol was "found on broadsides printed at Newcastle at various periods during the last hundred and fifty years", i.e. from approximately 1714. In addition, many of the nineteenth century citations come from the Newcastle area.<ref name="salmon" /><ref name="henderson" /><ref name="stokoe" /><ref name="scott" />
Peter and Iona Opie suggest that "if '[t]he partridge in the peartree' is to be taken literally it looks as if the chant comes from France, since the [[Red-legged partridge|Red Leg partridge]], which perches in trees more frequently than the [[Grey partridge|common partridge]], was not successfully introduced into England until about 1770".<ref name="Oxford">Opie and Opie (1951), pp. 122–23.</ref>

Some authors suggest a connection to a religious verse entitled "Twelfth Day", found in a thirteenth century manuscript at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]];<ref name="brewster">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58170/page/n359/mode/2up |page=354 |title=Ballads and Songs of Indiana |first=Paul G. |last=Brewster |publisher=Indiana University |location=Bloomington |year=1940}}</ref><ref name="poston">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/secondpenguinboo00eliz/page/30/mode/2up |page=31 |title=Second Penguin Book of Christmas Carols |first=Elizabeth |last=Poston |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1970 |location=Harmondsworth|isbn=9780140708387 }}</ref><ref>For the medieval text, see {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/englishlyricsofx0000brow/page/38/mode/2up |pages=39–41 |title=English Lyrics of the XIIIth Century |location=London  |publisher=Oxford University Press |first=Carleton |last=Brown |year=1932}} or {{cite journal |last=Greg |first=W. W. |title=A Ballad of Twelfth Day |journal=Modern Language Review |volume=8 |issue=1 |publisher=Modern Humanities Research Association |year=1913 |pages=64–67 |doi=10.2307/3712650 |jstor=3712650}}</ref> this theory is criticised as "erroneous" by Yoffie.<ref>Yoffie (1949), [https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-american-folklore_october-december-1949_61_246/page/398/mode/2up p. 399]</ref>  It has also been suggested that this carol is connected to the "old ballad" which Sir Toby Belch begins to sing in Shakespeare's ''[[Twelfth Night]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.89466/page/n419/mode/2up |pages=182–185 |title=The Twelfth Day of December: Twelfth Night II.iii.91 |first=I. B. |last=Cauthen |journal=Studies in Bibliography |publisher=Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia |year=1949 |volume=ii}}</ref>

===Manner of performance===
Many early sources suggest that ''The Twelve Days of Christmas'' was a "memory-and-forfeits" game, in which participants were required to repeat a verse of poetry recited by the leader. Players who made an error were required to pay a penalty, in the form of offering a kiss or confection.<ref name="snopes">{{cite web | url=http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp | title=The song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was created as a coded reference | access-date=10 December 2011 | date=15 December 2008 | work=Snopes.com|quote= There is absolutely no documentation or supporting evidence for [the claim that the song is a secret Catholic catechism] whatsoever, other than mere repetition of the claim itself. The claim appears to date only to the 1990s, marking it as likely an invention of modern day speculation rather than historical fact.}}</ref>

[[James Halliwell-Phillipps|Halliwell]], writing in 1842, stated that "[e]ach child in succession repeats the gifts of the day, and forfeits for each mistake."<ref name="halliwell_1842"/>

Salmon, writing from Newcastle, claimed in 1855 that the song "[had] been, up to within twenty years, extremely popular as a schoolboy's Christmas chant".<ref name="salmon" />

Husk, writing in 1864, stated:{{sfnp|Husk|1864|p=181}} {{blockquote|This piece is found on broadsides printed at Newcastle at various periods during the last hundred and fifty years. On one of these sheets, nearly a century old, it is entitled "An Old English Carol," but it can scarcely be said to fall within that description of composition, being rather fitted for use in playing the game of "Forfeits," to which purpose it was commonly applied in the metropolis upwards of forty years since. The practice was for one person in the company to recite the first three lines; a second, the four following; and so on; the person who failed in repeating her portion correctly being subjected to some trifling forfeit.}}

[[Thomas Hughes]], in a short story published in 1864, described a fictional game of Forfeits involving the song:<ref name="hughes" />{{blockquote|[A] cry for forfeits arose. So the party sat down round Mabel on benches brought out from under the table, and Mabel began, --

The first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge and a pear-tree;

The second day of Christmas my true love sent to me two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree;

The third day of Christmas my true love sent to me three fat hens, two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree;

The fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me four ducks quacking, three fat hens, two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree;

The fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me five hares running, four ducks quacking, three fat hens, two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree;

And so on. Each day was taken up and repeated all round; and for every breakdown (except by little Maggie, who struggled with desperately earnest round eyes to follow the rest correctly, but with very comical results), the player who made the slip was duly noted down by Mabel for a forfeit.}}

Barnes (1882), stated that the last verse "is to be said in one breath".<ref name="barnes"/>

Scott (1892), reminiscing about Christmas and New Year's celebrations in Newcastle around the year 1844, described a performance thus:<ref name="scott"/>{{blockquote|A lady begins it, generally an elderly lady, singing the first line in a high clear voice, the person sitting next takes up the second, the third follows, at first gently, but before ''twelfth day'' is reached the whole circle were joining in with stentorian noise and wonderful enjoyment.}}

[[Lady Gomme]] wrote in 1898:{{sfnp|Gomme|1898|p=319}}

{{blockquote|"The Twelve Days" was a Christmas game. It was a customary thing in a friend's house to play "The Twelve Days," or "My Lady's Lap Dog," every Twelfth Day night. The party was usually a mixed gathering of juveniles and adults, mostly relatives, and before supper{{--}}that is, before eating [[mince pie]]s and [[king cake|twelfth cake]]{{--}}this game and the cushion dance were played, and the forfeits consequent upon them always cried. The company were all seated round the room. The leader of the game commenced by saying the first line. [...] The lines for the "first day" of Christmas was said by each of the company in turn; then the first "day" was repeated, with the addition of the "second" by the leader, and then this was said all round the circle in turn. This was continued until the lines for the "twelve days" were said by every player. For every mistake a forfeit{{--}}a small article belonging to the person{{--}}had to be given up. These forfeits were afterwards "cried" in the usual way, and were not returned to the owner until they had been redeemed by the penalty inflicted being performed.}}

=== Meanings of the gifts ===
====Partridge in a pear tree====
An anonymous "antiquarian", writing in 1867, speculated that "[[pear-tree]]" is a corruption of French ''perdrix'' ({{IPA|fr|pɛʁ.dʁi|}}, "[[partridge]]").<ref name="cliftonian"/>  This was also suggested by [[Anne Gilchrist (collector)|Anne Gilchrist]], who observed in 1916 that "from the constancy in English, French, and [[Languedocien dialect|Languedoc]] versions of the 'merry little partridge,' I suspect that 'pear-tree' is really ''perdrix'' (Old French {{Lang|fro|pertriz}}) carried into England".{{sfnp|Sharp|Gilchrist|Broadwood|1916|p=280}}  The variant text "part of a juniper tree", found as early as c. 1840, is likely not original, since "partridge" is found in the French versions.<ref name="cecily">In a manuscript by Cecily Baring-Gould, dated "about 1840", transcribed in {{cite book |pages=102–103 |title=Folk Songs of the West Country |first=Sabine |last=Baring-Gould |editor-first=Gordon |editor-last=Hitchcock |publisher=David & Charales |location=Newton Abbot, Devon |year=1974 <!-- 1974 is correct year -- please don't change --> |isbn=0715364197 |url=https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/twelve_days_of_christmas-2.htm}}; note that the linked webpage misidentifies the book in which this melody was published.</ref><ref name="poston"/> It is probably a corruption of "partridge in a pear tree", though Gilchrist suggests "juniper tree" could have been ''joli perdrix'', [pretty partridge].<ref>{{cite book |page=89 |url=https://archive.org/details/folkcarolofengla00bric/page/88/mode/2up |title=The Folk-Carol of England |first=Douglas |last=Brice |year=1967 |publisher=Herbert Jenkins |location=London}}</ref>{{sfnp|Sharp|Gilchrist|Broadwood|1916|p=280}}

Another suggestion is that an old English drinking song may have furnished the idea for the first gift. [[William B. Sandys]] refers to it as a "convivial glee introduced a few years since, 'A Pie [i.e., a magpie] sat on a Pear Tree,' where one drinks while the others sing."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishpoet23perc/page/n263/mode/2up |first=William|last=Sandys|title=Festive Songs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries|publisher=Percy Society|location=London|volume=23|date=1847|page=74}}</ref> The image of the bird in the pear tree also appears in lines from a children's counting rhyme an old Mother Goose.{{sfnp|Yoffie|1949|p=400}}

: A pye sate on a pear tree, Heigh O
: Once so merrily hopp'd she; Heigh O
: Twice so merrily, etc.
: Thrice so, etc.

====French hens====
Gilchrist suggests that the adjective "French" may mean "foreign".{{sfnp|Sharp|Gilchrist|Broadwood|1916|p=280}}  Sharp reports that one singer sings "Britten chains", which he interprets as a corruption of "[[Brittany|Breton]] hens".<ref>Sharp (1905), [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.39000005860007?urlappend=%3Bseq=92 p. 74]</ref>  William and Ceil Baring-Gould also suggest that the birds are Breton hens, which they see as another indication that the carol is of French origin.<ref name="amg"/>

====Colly birds====
The word "colly", found in the earliest publications, was the source of considerable confusion.<ref>Also spelled "colley" or "collie"</ref>  Multiple sources confirm that it is a dialectal word, found in Somerset and elsewhere, meaning "black",<ref>See this explanation: [[Mondegreen#Standardized and recorded mondegreens]]</ref> so "colly birds" are [[Common blackbird|blackbirds]].<ref name="salmon"/>{{sfnp|Sharp|Gilchrist|Broadwood|1916|p=280}}  Despite this, other theories about the word's origin are also found in the literature, such as that the word is a corruption of French {{Lang|fr|collet}} ("ruff"), or of "coloured".<ref name="cliftonian"/><ref name="brewster"/>

====Gold rings====
[[File:Five gold rings.png|thumb|Illustration of "five gold rings", from the first known publication of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1780)]]
Shahn suggests that "the five golden rings refer to the [[Golden pheasant|ringed pheasant]]".<ref name="shahn">{{cite book |first=Ben |last=Shahn |title=A Partridge in a Pear Tree |year=1951 |publisher=Museum of Modern Art |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/partridgeinpeart00shah/page/n27/mode/2up}}</ref>  [[William S. Baring-Gould|William]] and Ceil Baring-Gould reiterate this idea, which implies that the gifts for the first seven days are all birds.<ref name="amg">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/annotatedmotherg00bari/page/196/mode/2up |first1=William S. |last1=Baring-Gould |first2=Ceil |last2=Baring-Gould |title=The Annotated Mother Goose |publisher=Bramhall House |year=1962 |location=New York |pages=196–197 |oclc=466911815}}</ref> Others suggest the gold rings refer to "five goldspinks"—a goldspink being an old name for a [[European goldfinch|goldfinch]];<ref>[[Aled Jones]], [[Songs of Praise]], [[BBC]], 26 December 2010.</ref> or even canaries.{{efn|1=There is a version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" that is still sung in [[Sussex]] in which the four calling birds are replaced by canaries.<ref>Pape, Gordon, and Deborah Kerbel. ''Quizmas Carols: Family Trivia Fun with Classic Christmas Songs''. New York: A Plume Book, October 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-452-28875-1}}</ref>}} However, the 1780 publication includes an illustration that clearly depicts the "five gold rings" as being jewellery.<ref name="mirth_without_mischief" />

====General====

According to ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'', "Suggestions have been made that the gifts have significance, as representing the food or sport for each month of the year. Importance [certainly has] long been attached to the Twelve Days, when, for instance, the weather on each day was carefully observed to see what it would be in the corresponding month of the coming year. Nevertheless, whatever the ultimate origin of the chant, it seems probable [that] the lines that survive today both in England and France are merely an irreligious travesty."<ref name="Oxford" />
In 1979, a Canadian hymnologist, Hugh D. McKellar, published an article, "How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas", in which he suggested that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" lyrics were intended as a [[catechism]] song to help young [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|English Catholics]] learn their faith, at a time when practising Catholicism was against the law (from 1558 until 1829).<ref>{{cite journal| last=McKellar | first=High D. | journal=[[The Hymn (journal)|The Hymn]] | title=The Twelve Days of Christmas | date=October 1994 | volume=45 |number=4 | quote=In any case, really evocative symbols do not allow of [sic] definitive explication, exhausting all possibilities. I can at most report what this song's symbols have suggested to me in the course of four decades, hoping thereby to start you on your own quest. | url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/74456918/Twelve-Days-of-Christmas}}</ref> McKellar offered no evidence for his claim. Three years later, in 1982, Fr. Hal Stockert wrote an article (subsequently posted online, in 1995) in which he suggested a similar possible use of the twelve gifts as part of a catechism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stockert |first=Hugh |title=Origin of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' |url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/origin-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas-10885 |url-status=live |access-date=2024-12-24 |website=EWTN Global Catholic Television Network |language=en}}</ref> The possibility that the twelve gifts were used as a catechism during the period of Catholic repression was also hypothesised in this same time period (1987 and 1992) by Fr. James Gilhooley, chaplain of [[Mount Saint Mary College]] of [[Newburgh (city), New York|Newburgh, New York]].<ref>{{cite news | last1=Gilhooley | first1=(Rev.) James | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/12/opinion/l-true-love-revealed-884288.html | title=Letter to the Editor: True Love Revealed|date=28 December 1987 | access-date=23 December 2013 | website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>Fr. James Gilhooley, "Those Wily Jesuits: If you think 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'is just a song, think again," ''Our Sunday Visitor'', v. 81, no. 34 (20 December 1992), p. 23.</ref> [[Snopes.com]], a website reviewing urban legends, Internet rumours, e-mail forwards, and other stories of unknown or questionable origin, concludes that the hypothesis of the twelve gifts of Christmas being a surreptitious Catholic catechism is incorrect. None of the enumerated items would distinguish Catholics from Protestants, and so would hardly need to be secretly encoded.<ref name="snopes"/>

== Music ==
=== Standard melody ===
[[File:12 days melody.png|thumb|centre|upright=3.0|Melody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", from Austin's 1909 arrangement]]
The now-standard melody for the carol was popularised by the English baritone and composer [[Frederic Austin]].  The singer, having arranged the music for solo voice with piano accompaniment, included it in his concert repertoire from 1905 onwards.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Western Times |location=Exeter |date=24 April 1905 |page=2 |title=The Marie Hall Concerts at Exeter}}</ref>  A ''[[The Times|Times]]'' review from 1906 praised the "quaint folk-song", while noting that "the words ... are better known than the excellent if intricate tune".<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Times |location=London|date=5 April 1906 |page=13 |title=Concerts}}</ref>
[[File:Frederic Austin (1907).png|thumb|upright=0.6|Frederic Austin]]
Austin's arrangement was published by [[Novello & Co.]] in 1909.<ref>Austin (1909)</ref><ref>Registered for US copyright in August 1909; see {{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyrig43libr/page/982/mode/2up |page=982 |date=November 1909 |journal=Catalogue of Copyright Entries Part 3: Musical Compositions |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Government Printing Office |series=New series|volume=4 |title=Twelve (The) Days of Christmas|issue=44–47}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Musical Times |page=722 |date=1909-11-01 |title=Reviews |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_musical-times_1909-11-01_50_801/page/722/mode/2up |volume=50 |issue=801}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Manchester Courier |date=18 December 1909 |page=11 |title=New Music}}</ref>  According to a footnote added to the posthumous 1955 reprint of his musical setting, Austin wrote:<ref>{{cite book |title=The Twelve Days of Christmas: Traditional (Song for Low Voice) |first=Frederic |last=Austin |publisher=Novello  |year=1955 |id=Novello 13056 |page=2}}.  With the exception of the footnote, outer covers, and position of the dedication, the 1955 and 1909 publications are typographically identical; both are assigned the same Novello catalogue number of 13056.</ref> {{blockquote|This song was, in my childhood, current in my family. I have not met with the tune of it elsewhere, nor with the particular version of the words, and have, in this setting, recorded both to the best of my recollection. ''F. A.''}}

A number of later publications state that Austin's music for "five gold rings" is an original addition to an otherwise traditional melody.  An early appearance of this claim is found in the 1961 ''University Carol Book'', which states:<ref>{{cite book |title=University Carol Book |first=Erik |last=Routley |publisher=H. Freeman & Co. |location=Brighton |year=1961 |pages=268–269 |oclc=867932371}}  Though Erik Routley was the overall editor of this volume, its arrangement of "Twelve Days of Christmas" was made by Gordon Hitchcock, who is thus the likely source of this statement.</ref><ref>Richard Austin, the son of Frederic Austin, had published an arrangement the previous year: {{cite book |first1=Frederic |last1=Austin |first2=Richard |last2=Austin |year=1960 |title=The Twelve Days of Christmas: a traditional song arranged for unison voices & piano by Frederic Austin, accompaniment simplified by Richard Austin |publisher=Novello |id=Novello School Songs 2039|location=London |oclc=497413045}}.</ref>{{blockquote |This is a traditional English singing game but the melody of five gold rings was added by Richard{{sic}} Austin whose fine setting (Novello) should be consulted for a fuller accompaniment.}}  Similar statements are found in [[John Rutter]]'s 1967 arrangement,<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Rutter |title=Eight Christmas Carols: Set 2 |year=1967 |page=15 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford|url=https://archive.org/details/ybimslp00914/page/14/mode/2up |quote=Melody for "Five gold rings" added by Frederic Austin, and reproduced by permission of Novello & Co. Ltd. |oclc= 810573578}}</ref> and in the 1992 ''[[New Oxford Book of Carols]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=New Oxford Book of Carols |year=1992 |first1=Hugh |last1=Keyte |first2=Andrew |last2=Parrott |url=https://archive.org/details/newoxfordbookofc0000unse_k9n1/page/n35/mode/2up |page=xxxiii |isbn=0-19-353323-5 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford|quote=Melody for 'Five gold rings' (added by Frederick [sic] Austin)}}</ref>

Many of the decisions Austin made with regard to the lyrics subsequently became widespread:
* The initial "On" at the beginning of each verse.
* The use of "calling birds", rather than "colly birds", on the fourth day.
* The ordering of the ninth to twelfth verses.
The [[time signature]] of this song is not constant, unlike most popular music. This irregular [[meter (music)|meter]] perhaps reflects the song's [[folk song|folk]] origin. The introductory lines "On the [''n''th] day of Christmas, my true love gave to me", are made up of two {{music|time|4|4}} [[bar (music)|bars]], while most of the lines naming gifts receive one {{music|time|3|4}} bar per gift with the exception of "Five gold rings", which receives two {{music|time|4|4}} bars, "Two turtle doves" getting a {{music|time|4|4}} bar with "And a" on its fourth beat and "partridge in a pear tree" getting two {{music|time|4|4}} bars of music. In most versions, a {{music|time|4|4}} bar of music immediately follows "partridge in a pear tree". "On the" is found in that bar on the fourth (pickup) beat for the next verse.  The successive bars of three for the gifts surrounded by bars of four give the song its hallmark "hurried" quality.

The second to fourth verses' melody is different from that of the fifth to twelfth verses. Before the fifth verse (when "Five gold rings" is first sung), the melody, using [[solfege]], is "sol re mi fa re" for the fourth to second items, and this same melody is thereafter sung for the twelfth to sixth items. However, the melody for "four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves" changes from this point, differing from the way these lines were sung in the opening four verses.

In the final verse, Austin inserted a flourish on the words "Five gold rings".  This has not been copied by later versions, which simply repeat the melody from the earlier verses. [[File:5-gold-cadenza.png|thumb|centre|upright=1.25]]

=== Earlier melodies ===

The earliest known sources for the text, such as ''Mirth Without Mischief'', do not include music.

A melody, possibly related to the "traditional" melody on which Austin based his arrangement, was recorded in [[Providence, Rhode Island]] in 1870 and published in 1905.<ref name="barry">Barry (1905), [https://archive.org/details/journalofamefolk18ameruoft/page/n63/mode/2up p. 58].  See also [https://archive.org/details/journalofamefolk18ameruoft/page/n55/mode/2up p. 50].</ref>
Cecil Sharp's ''Folk Songs from Somerset'' (1905) contains two different melodies for the song, both distinct from the now-standard melody.<ref name="somerset">Sharp (1905), [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015065002621?urlappend=%3Bseq=74 pp. 52–55]</ref>

{{Gallery
|width=350
|height=250
|title=Older Musical settings of "Twelve Days of Christmas"
|align=center
|File:Twelve Days of Christmas (Barry 1790).png|"[C]opied from a manuscript of 1790"<ref name="barry"/>
|File:Twelve Days Stokoe.png|"[C]ollected by the late Mr. John Bell, of Gateshead, about eighty years ago" [i.e. around 1808]<ref name="stokoe" /> {{audio|Twelve Days Stokoe.mid|Play}}
|File:Rimbault Twelve Days Detail.png|From [[Edward Rimbault]]'s ''Nursery Rhymes, with the Tunes to which They Are Still Sung in the Nurseries of England'' (1846)<ref name="rimbault"/>

|File:Twelve Days of Christmas (Barry 1875).png|"[R]ecorded about 1875 by a lady of Providence, RI, from the singing of an aged man."<ref name="barry"/>
|File:Twelve Days of Christmas (Kidson).png|Current in "country villages in Wiltshire", according to an 1891 newspaper article<ref name="kidson">{{cite journal |journal=Leeds Mercury Weekly Supplement |date=10 January 1891 |first=Frank |last=Kidson |page=5 |title=Old Songs and Airs: Melodies Once Popular in Yorkshire |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26272153/twelve_days_of_christmas_kidson/}}</ref>
|File:Twelve Days of Christmas (Barry 1899).png|"[A]s sung by the Allens at the Homestead, Castle Hill, Medfield, Massachusetts, 1899"<ref>Barry (1905), [https://archive.org/details/journalofamefolk18ameruoft/page/n61/mode/2up p. 57].</ref>
|File:Twelve Days of Christmas (Wyatt 1904).png|"[S]ung by Mr. George Wyatt, at West Harptree, Somerset, April 15th, 1904".<ref>Sharp et al. (1916), [https://archive.org/details/sim_folk-song-society-journal_1916_5_20/page/278/mode/2up p. 278]</ref>
}}

Several [[Folklore studies|folklorists]] have recorded the carol using traditional melodies. [[Peter Kennedy (folklorist)|Peter Kennedy]] recorded the [[Copper Family|Copper family]] of [[Sussex]], England singing a version in 1955 which differs slightly from the common version,<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Christmas Presents (Roud Folksong Index S201515)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S201515|access-date=9 December 2020|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> whilst [[Helen Hartness Flanders]] recorded several different versions in the 1930s and 40s in [[New England]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Twelve Days of Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S254563)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S254563|access-date=9 December 2020|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Twelve Days of Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S254559)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S254559|access-date=9 December 2020|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Twelve Days of Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S254562)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S254562|access-date=9 December 2020|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Twelve Days of Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S254561)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S254561|access-date=9 December 2020|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> where the song seems to have been particularly popular. [[Edith Fowke]] recorded a single version sung by Woody Lambe of [[Toronto]], Canada in 1963,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Twelve Days of Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S163946)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S163946|access-date=9 December 2020|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> whilst [[Herbert Halpert]] recorded one version sung by Oscar Hampton and Sabra Bare in [[Morgantown, Burlington, North Carolina|Morgantown]], [[North Carolina]]  One interesting version was also recorded in 1962 in [[Deer, Arkansas|Deer]], Arkansas, performed by Sara Stone;<ref>{{Cite web|title=Days of Christmas (Roud Folksong Index S407817)|url=https://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S407817|access-date=9 December 2020|website=The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library|language=en-gb}}</ref> the recording is available online courtesy of the [[University of Arkansas]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=CONTENTdm|url=https://digitalcollections.uark.edu/digital/collection/OzarkFolkSong/id/4383|access-date=9 December 2020|website=digitalcollections.uark.edu}}</ref>

== Parodies and other versions ==<!-- the "references" are nearly all first-party primary sources or IMDB-->
[[File:US Navy 091204-N-5508A-159 Members of the Navy Sea Chanters sing their comedy version of.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[United States Navy Band|Navy Sea Chanters]] sing their comedy version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on 4 December 2009, at the Wallace Theater, [[Ft. Belvoir]], [[Virginia]].]]
* [[Bing Crosby]] and [[the Andrews Sisters]] recorded the traditional version of this song on 10 May 1949 for [[Decca Records]].<ref>{{cite web|title=A Bing Crosby Discography|url=http://www.bingmagazine.co.uk/bingmagazine/crosby1bDecca.html|website=BING magazine|publisher=International Club Crosby|access-date=21 May 2017}}</ref>
* [[Ray Conniff|The Ray Conniff Singers]] recorded a traditional version in 1962, appearing on the album ''[[We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Ray Conniff album)|We Wish You a Merry Christmas]]''.
* [[Jasper Carrott]] performed "Twelve Drinks of Christmas" where he appears to be more inebriated with each successive verse.<ref>DVD ''[[An Audience with...]] Jasper Carrott''</ref> This was based on Scottish comedian Bill Barclay's version.<ref>{{Citation |title=Jasper Carrott - 12 Days Of Christmas |date=10 September 1977 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/5552783-Jasper-Carrott-12-Days-Of-Christmas |language=en |access-date=2022-12-21}}</ref>
* [[Perry Como]] recorded a traditional version of "Twelve Days of Christmas" for [[RCA Victor]] in 1953, but varied the lyrics with "11 Lords a Leaping", "10 Ladies Dancing", and "9 Pipers Piping". The orchestrations were done by [[Mitchell Ayres]].
* Advertising based snippets of a parody of the song show up in [[Stan Freberg]]'s "Green Chri$tma$".
* [[Allan Sherman]] released two different versions of "[[The Twelve Gifts of Christmas]]".<ref>Liner notes from ''Allan Sherman: My Son, The Box'' (2005)</ref> Sherman wrote and performed his version of the classic Christmas carol on a 1963 TV special that was taped well in advance of the holiday. [[Warner Bros. Records]] rushed out a 45 RPM version in early December.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.povonline.com/sherman/Sherman01.htm |title=Allan Sherman Discography |publisher=Povonline.com |date=30 November 1924 |access-date=5 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216120117/http://povonline.com/sherman/Sherman01.htm |archive-date=16 December 2011 }}</ref>
* [[Alvin and the Chipmunks]] covered the song for their 1963 album ''[[Christmas with The Chipmunks, Vol. 2]]''.
* The illustrator [[Hilary Knight (illustrator)|Hilary Knight]] included ''A Firefly in a Fir Tree'' in his ''Christmas Nutshell Library'', a boxed set of four miniature holiday-themed books published in 1963.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Christmas Nutshell Library|last=Knight|first=Hilary|date=1963|publisher=Harper and Row Publishers|isbn=9780060231651}}</ref> In this rendition, the narrator is a mouse, with the various gifts reduced to mouse scale, such as "nine nuts for nibbling" and "four holly berries".<ref name="A Carol for Mice">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780060009922|title=A firefly in a fir tree: A carol for mice|last=Knight|first=Hilary|date=2004|location=New York|publisher=Katherine Tegen Books|via=Internet Archive|access-date=27 December 2017}}</ref> Later released separately with the subtitle ''A Carol for Mice''.<ref name="A Carol for Mice"/>
* [[Frank Sinatra]] and his children, [[Frank Sinatra Jr.]], [[Nancy Sinatra]], and [[Tina Sinatra]], included their own version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on their 1968 album, ''[[The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carolingcorner.com/sinatra.html |title=Sinatra Family Twelve Days of Christmas |publisher=Caroling Corner |access-date=5 December 2011}}</ref>
* [[Sears]] put out a special Christmas coloring book with Disney's [[Winnie-the-Pooh]] characters in 1973 featuring a version of the carol focusing on Pooh's attempts to get a pot of honey from a hollow honey tree, with each verse ending in "and a hunny pot inna hollow tree".
* [[Fay McKay]], an American musical comedian, is best known for "The Twelve Daze of Christmas", a parody in which the gifts were replaced with various [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]]ic drinks, resulting in her performance becoming increasingly inebriated over the course of the song.<ref name=rip>[http://www.lvrj.com/news/17321084.html Obituary: "R.I.P. FAY MCKAY"]. ''[[Las Vegas Review-Journal]]'', 5 April 2008.</ref>
* A radio play written by [[Brian Sibley]], "And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree" was broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] on Christmas Day 1977.<ref>{{cite journal|title=... and yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree|journal=Radio Times|date=22 December 1977|issue=2824|page=31|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/47396f59e4ba48d28c021e64c036013d}}</ref> Starring [[Penelope Keith]], it imagines the increasingly exasperated response of the recipient of the "twelve days" gifts.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sibley|first1=Brian|title=And Another Partridge in a Pear Tree|url=http://briansibleytheworks.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/blog-post.html|website=Brian Sibley: The Works|access-date=15 December 2014}}</ref> It was rebroadcast in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|title=And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jqsy|publisher=BBC Radio 4 Extra|access-date=26 January 2015}}</ref>
* [[The Muppets]] and singer-songwriter [[John Denver]] performed "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on the 1979 television special ''[[John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together]]''. It was featured on the album of the same name. The song has been recorded by the Muppets five different times, featuring different Muppets in different roles each time.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0194989/ ''John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together'' (1979)]. Retrieved 24 January 2009.</ref>
* A [[Māori people|Māori]] / New Zealand version, titled "A [[Pūkeko|Pukeko]] in a [[Cyathea dealbata|Ponga Tree]]", written by [[Kingi Matutaera Ihaka]], appeared as a picture book and cassette recording in 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://folksong.org.nz/nzchristmas/pukeko.html |title=A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree |publisher=Folksong.org.nz |date=1 December 2000 |access-date=5 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maori-in-oz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=160 |title=A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree |publisher=Maori-in-Oz |access-date=5 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905132516/http://www.maori-in-oz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=160 |archive-date=5 September 2012 }}</ref>
* On the late-night sketch-comedy program ''[[Second City TV]]'' in 1982, the [[Canadian]]-rustic characters [[Bob & Doug McKenzie]] ([[Rick Moranis]] and [[Dave Thomas (actor)|Dave Thomas]]) released a version on the [[Second City Television|SCTV]] spin-off album ''[[The Great White North (album)|Great White North]]''.<ref>[http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=131 The Mad Music Archive]. Retrieved 25 December 2008.</ref>
* ''The Twelve Days of Christmas'' (TV 1993), an animated tale which aired on NBC, features the voices of [[Marcia Savella]], [[Larry Kenney]], [[Jimmy Zoppi|Carter Cathcart]], [[Donna Vivino]] and [[Phil Hartman]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324344/|title=The Twelve Days of Christmas (TV Movie 1993)|author=dalty_smilth|date=3 December 1993|work=IMDb|access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref>
* [[VeggieTales]] parodied "The Twelve Days of Christmas" under the title "The 8 Polish Foods of Christmas" in the 1996 album [[List of VeggieTales albums|''A Very Veggie Christmas'']]. It was later rerecorded as a [[Silly Songs with Larry|Silly Song]] for the episode [[List of VeggieTales videos|''The Little Drummer Boy'']] in 2011.<ref>{{Citation|last=VeggieTales Official|title=VeggieTales Christmas Party: The 8 Polish Foods of Christmas|date=6 September 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa-mHc51SJo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/Oa-mHc51SJo |archive-date=14 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=9 December 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
* [[New Orleans]] musicians [[Benny Grunch and the Bunch]] recorded, in the 1990s, the comic version ‘’[[The Twelve Y’ats of Christmas]]’’, which references various iconic New Orleans landmarks and foods.{{citation needed |date=January 2025}}
* Christian rock band [[Relient K]] released a recording of the song on their 2007 album ''[[Let It Snow, Baby... Let It Reindeer]]''. This version known for its slightly satirical refrain: "What's a partridge? What's a pear tree? I don't know, so please don't ask me. But I can bet those are terrible gifts to get."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/let-it-snow-baby...let-it/id277541214|title=Let It Snow, Baby... Let It Reindeer|work=iTunes|date=23 October 2007 |access-date=13 December 2016}}</ref>
* A program hosted by [[Tom Arnold (actor)|Tom Arnold]], ''The 12 Days of Redneck Christmas'', which takes a look at Christmas traditions, premiered on [[Country Music Television|CMT]] in 2008. The theme music is "The Twelve Days of Christmas".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081207124837/http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/redneck_christmas/series.jhtml CMT.com: Shows: The 12 Days of Redneck Christmas]. Retrieved 25 December 2008.</ref>
* [[Shannon Chan-Kent]], as her character of Pinkie Pie from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'', sings her own version of the song on the album ''My Little Pony: It's a Pony Kind of Christmas''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/my-little-pony-pony-kind-christmas/id1049604165|title=It's a Pony Kind of Christmas|work=iTunes|access-date=7 December 2015}}</ref>
* Irish actor [[Frank Kelly]] recorded "Christmas Countdown" in 1982 in which a man named Gobnait O'Lúnasa receives the 12 Christmas gifts referenced in the song from a lady named Nuala. As each gift is received, Gobnait gets increasingly upset with the person who sent them, as said gifts wreak havoc in the house where he lives with his mother. This version charted in both Ireland (where it reached number 8 in 1982) and the UK (entering the UK chart in December 1983 and reaching number 26).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/2515/frank-kelly/|title=FRANK KELLY &#124; full Official Chart History &#124; Official Charts Company|website=www.officialcharts.com|accessdate=22 December 2021}}</ref><ref>[http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement Irish chart site.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816194530/http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement |date=16 August 2016 }} Type Frank Kelly in the search box to retrieve the data</ref> The song peaked at number 15 in Australia in 1984.<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=164}}</ref>
* A special ''[[Creature Comforts]]'' orchestral arrangement of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was made by British animator [[Nick Park]] and [[Aardman Animations]]. Featuring different animals discussing or trying to remember the lyrics of the song, it was released on Christmas Day 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101900444.html |title='Creature Comforts': A Very Human Animal Kingdom |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=20 October 2006}}</ref>
* The video game ''[[StarCraft|StarCraft: Broodwar]]'' released a new map named ''Twelve Days of StarCraft'' with the song which was adopted a new lyric featured units from the game by [[Blizzard Entertainment|Blizzard]] on 23 December 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://classic.battle.net/scc/OS/1299.shtml |title=SCC: Map Archives |work=[[Battle.net#Battle.net Classic|Classic Battle.net]]|date=23 December 1999|accessdate=May 27, 2017}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=June 2017}} In 2013, CarbotAnimations created a new web animation, ''StarCraft's Christmas Special 2013 the Twelve Days of StarCrafts'', with the song which was played in the map ''Twelve Days of Starcraft''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMt6eoe8i6s |title=StarCrafts Christmas Special 2013 the Twelve Days of StarCrafts|author=CarbotAnimations|work=[[YouTube]]|date=14 December 2013|accessdate=May 27, 2017}}</ref>
* In [[Hawaii]], ''The Twelve Days of Christmas, Hawaiian Style'', with the words by Eaton Bob Magoon Jr., Edward Kenny, and Gordon N. Phelps, is popular. It is typically sung by children in concerts with proper [[gesticulation]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huapala.org/ChristReligious/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas.html|title=Twelve Days of Christmas|website=www.huapala.org|accessdate=22 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2010/12/19/features/12-days-hawaiian-style-song-still-fun-after-50-years/|title='12 Days' Hawaiian-style song still fun after 50 years|first1=John|last1=Berger|date=19 December 2010|website=Honolulu Star-Advertiser|accessdate=22 December 2021}}</ref>
* A version by [[Crayola]] was made in 2008 titled ''The 64 Days of Crayola.''
* American rock and roll radio on-air personality [[Bob Rivers]] made a version of the song, "The Twelve Pains of Christmas" (from ''[[Twisted Christmas]]'', 1988), replacing the traditional gifts with a list of hassles associated with Christmas, such as installing [[christmas lights|decorative lighting]], or going shopping for gifts.
* In the ''[[12 Disasters of Christmas]]'' movie, the song has actually been created by the [[Mayas]] to ensure that a prophecy of the end of the world be foretold among Europeans even after the destruction of the Mayas' civilization.
* With reference to President Trump's impeachment just before Christmas 2019, the Washington International Chorus performed the 12 Days of Christmas carol, [https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-50831653?zephr-top-banner with specially adapted lyrics by BBC News].

== Total number and cost of gifts ==

Assuming the gifts are repeated in full in each round of the song, the persona's true love sends her a total of 364 items by the twelfth day.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How many gifts in total in ''The Twelve Days of Christmas''?|url=https://www.houseofmaths.co.uk/2016/12/how-many-gifts-in-total-in-the-twelve-days-of-christmas/|date=December 2016|publisher=House of Maths}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=''How Many Gifts Do I Get Over the 12 Days of Christmas?''|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QEjzITPD8c|date=November 13, 2022|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>

Over the years, media creators have been using the motif of 364 Christmas gifts to humorous effect:
*'''1955''': [[Wendy Toye]] directed ''On the Twelfth Day...'', a British live action comedy short film wherein she also played the character of Miss Tilly. In Edwardian England, Miss Tilly's life becomes chaotic during the twelve days of Christmas as her boyfriend, Mr. Truelove, gives her hundreds of gifts; the short film ends with Miss Tilly and Mr. Truelove becoming engaged and flying away in his [[hot air balloon]] and her butler moving out of her crowded house. Even though animals were used in the making of ''On the Twelfth Day...'', the swans were replaced with forty-two "boys a-singing".
*'''1972''': Jenny Overton wrote ''The Thirteen Days of Christmas'', an English children's novel that doubles as the author's take on the origins of the carol. The main plot of Overton's novel takes place during the holy days of Christmas, beginning on December 25 (Christmas Day) and ending on January 6 (Epiphany); during the first twelve days, the fairytale-obsessed Annaple Kitson's merchant boyfriend, Francis Vere, sends her birds, pear trees, rings, fresh milk, and entertainers, her mood changing from delight to frustration. With her father and neighbours enjoying the spectacle, it is Annaple's younger siblings who had given Francis ideas so they can marry her off and no longer have to deal with her strict rules and bad cooking.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Overton|first=Jenny|date=October 10, 2013|url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details/?id=pCjXDwAAQBAJ|title=''The Thirteen Days of Christmas''|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref>
*'''1977''': [[Brian Sibley]] wrote an English black comedy radio broadcast titled ''...And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree''. In their letters, a woman named Cynthia Bracegirdle ([[Penelope Keith]]) and her [[solicitor]]s respond to her boyfriend, Algernon Fotherington-Smythe, whose sending her of the gifts drives her to [[suicide]] and instructing the solicitors to return all the assorted livestock and [[Human trafficking|trafficked humans]] to him.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sibley|first=Brian|date=January 2008|url=https://briansibleytheworks.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post.html|title=''...And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree'' (text)|publisher=[[Blogger (service)|Blogger]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Sibley|first=Brian|date=December 9, 2013|url=https://soundcloud.com/brian-sibley/and-yet-another-partridge-in-a|title=''...And Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree'' (audio)|publisher=[[SoundCloud]]}}</ref>
*'''1999''': the final track of American singer [[Natalie Cole]]'s album ''[[The Magic of Christmas (Natalie Cole album)|The Magic of Christmas]]'' is her cover of ''The Twelve Days of Christmas'' which ends with her adding up all 364 gifts and moving out of her crowded home.
*'''2016''': in the British animated comedy short film ''The 12 Days of Christmas - A Tale of Avian Misery'', a 21st century woman ([[Phoebe Waller-Bridge]]) narrates of the stress and troubles she endures when her boyfriend sends her all the gifts mentioned in the carol; the film ends with the narrator breaking up with her boyfriend and annually spending Christmas in the [[tropics]] to avoid receiving unwanted gifts.<ref>{{Cite web|date=December 19, 2016|url=https://vimeo.com/196277011|title=''The 12 Days of Christmas - A Tale of Avian Misery''|publisher=[[Vimeo]]}}</ref>

'''PNC Christmas Price Index'''
{{Main article|Christmas Price Index}}
Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the items mentioned in the Frederic Austin version have been used as a [[tongue-in-cheek]] [[economic indicator]]. This custom began with and is maintained by [[PNC Bank]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121902176.html |title=Two Turtledoves, My Love |newspaper=Washington Post |date= 20 December 2007|access-date=5 December 2011 |first=Jackie |last=Spinner}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E7DB163EF936A15751C1A9659C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/G/Gifts |title=The '12 Days' Index Shows a Record Increase |newspaper=The New York Times |date=25 December 2003 |access-date=5 December 2011 |first=Elizabeth |last=Olson}}</ref> Two pricing charts are created, referred to as the Christmas Price Index and The True Cost of Christmas. The former is an index of the current costs of one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". The latter is the cumulative cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased. The total costs of all goods and services for the 2023 Christmas Price Index is [[USD|US]]$46,729.86,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The PNC Christmas Price Index |url=https://www.pnc.com/en/about-pnc/topics/pnc-christmas-price-index.html#gifts |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.pnc.com}}</ref> or US$201,972.18 for all 364 items.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pncchristmaspriceindex.com/cpi/#giftprices|title=2015 PNC Christmas Price Index|date=5 December 2015|access-date=5 December 2015|publisher=PNC Financial Services|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208223333/https://www.pncchristmaspriceindex.com/cpi/#giftprices|archive-date=8 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.creators.com/advice/annies-mailbox/the-12-days-of-christmas-adjusted-for-inflation.html|title=The 12 Days of Christmas Adjusted for Inflation|last1=Mitchell|last2=Sugar|first1=Kathy|first2=Marcy|publisher=[[Creators Syndicate]]|date=25 December 2014|access-date=25 December 2014}}</ref> The original 1984 cost was $12,623.10. The index has been humorously criticised for not accurately reflecting the true cost of the gifts featured in the Christmas carol.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fulcrum.com/12days_christmas/ |title=The 12 Days of Christmas – a lesson in how a complex appraisal can go astray |publisher=Fulcrum.com |access-date=14 December 2011}}</ref>

== Computational complexity ==

In the famous article ''[[The Complexity of Songs]]'', [[Donald Knuth]] computes the [[space complexity]] of the song as a function of the number of days, observing that a hypothetical "The <math>m</math> Days of Christmas" requires a memory space of <math>O\left(\sqrt{n/\log n}\right)</math> as <math>m\to\infty</math> where <math>n</math> is the length of the song, showing that songs with complexity lower than <math>O(\sqrt{n})</math> indeed exist. Incidentally, it is also observed that the total number of gifts after <math>m</math> days equals <math>m^3/6 + m^2/2 + m/3</math>.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Knuth | first=Donald | title=The Complexity of Songs | journal=SIGACT News | date=Summer 1977 | volume=27 | issue=4 | pages=17–24 | doi=10.1145/358027.358042 | s2cid=207711569 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 1988, a [[C (programming language)|C]] program authored by Ian Phillipps won the [[International Obfuscated C Code Contest]]. The code, which according to the jury of the contest "looked like what you would get by pounding on the keys of an old typewriter at random", takes advantage of the recursive structure of the song to print its lyrics with code that is shorter than the lyrics themselves.<ref>{{cite web | author=Mike Markowski | title=xmas.c| url=https://udel.edu/~mm/xmas/|access-date=2022-12-12}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Christmas carols]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==

=== Footnotes ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n2 |author=Anonymous |title=Mirth without mischief Comtaining [sic] The twelve days of Christmas; The play of the gaping-wide-mouthed-wadling-frog; Love and hatred; ... and Nimble Ned's alphabet and figures | publisher=C. Sheppard |location=London |year=c. 1800}}
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/austin_1909 |last=Austin |first=Frederic, (arr.) |title=The Twelve Days of Christmas (Traditional Song) |location=London |publisher=Novello |year=1909 |oclc=1254007259 |id=Novello 13056}}
* {{cite journal |pages=49–59 |journal=Journal of American Folk-Lore |jstor=534261 |title=Some Traditional Songs |last=Barry |first=Phillips |date=January 1905 |volume=XVIII|issue=68 |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Company|doi=10.2307/534261|doi-access=free |url=https://archive.org/details/journalofamefolk18ameruoft/page/n53/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last=Eckenstein |first=Lina |title=Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes |chapter=Chapter XII: Chants of Numbers |location=London |publisher=Duckworth |year=1906 |pages=61–65 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/comparativestudi00eckerich/page/134/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book|first=Alice Bertha|last=Gomme|title=The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland|volume=ii|location=London|publisher=David Nutt|year=1898|pages=315–321|url=https://archive.org/stream/traditionalgame00gommgoog#page/n334/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Husk |editor-first=William Henry |url=https://archive.org/stream/songsofnativityb00husk#page/181/mode/2up |title=Songs of the Nativity |location=London |publisher=John Camden Hotten |year=1864 |pages=181–185}}
* Opie, Peter and Iona, eds. ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, pp.&nbsp;122–230, {{ISBN|0-19-869111-4}}.
* {{cite book|first1=Cecil J. |last1=Sharp |first2=Charles L. |last2=Marson|title=Folk Songs from Somerset (Second Series) |year=1905 |location=Taunton |publisher=Simpkin |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.39000005860007?urlappend=%3Bseq=7 |hdl=2027/inu.39000005860007?urlappend=%3Bseq=7 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Sharp|first1=Cecil J.|first2=A. G.|last2=Gilchrist|first3=Lucy E.|last3=Broadwood|title=Forfeit Songs; Cumulative Songs; Songs of Marvels and of Magical Animals|journal=Journal of the Folk-Song Society |volume=5|issue=20|date=November 1916|pages=277–296 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_folk-song-society-journal_1916_5_20/page/276/mode/2up}}
* {{cite journal|last=Yoffie|first=Leah Rachel Clara|title=Songs of the 'Twelve Numbers' and the Hebrew Chant of 'Echod mi Yodea'|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=62|issue=246|date=October–December 1949|doi=10.2307/536580|jstor=536580|pages=399–401 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-american-folklore_october-december-1949_61_246/page/382/mode/2up}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)}}
{{Wikisource|The Twelve Days of Christmas}}
* {{ChoralWiki|Twelve_Days_of_Christmas,_The_(Traditional)|The Twelve Days of Christmas|prep=of}}
*  Free online simple melody score for all verses (as JPEGs or a PDF file) in English and Esperanto: [http://www.genekeyes.com/12-DAYS/12-days-of-Christmas.html "The Twelve Days of Christmas / La Dek Du Tagoj de Kristnasko"]

{{Christmas}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twelve Days Of Christmas, The}}
[[Category:British Christmas songs]]
[[Category:Christmas carols]]
[[Category:Cumulative songs]]
[[Category:Christmas in England]]
[[Category:12 (number)]]