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Pip Wilson

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Today is

 
Partridge control

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

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

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Five golden rings.
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans
a-swi'mmi'ng, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the first day of Solstice the Goddess sent to me,
some healing to set me free.

On the second day of Solstice the Goddess sent to me,
Gifts from my love
and some healing to set me free.

etc.

1. Some healing to set me free
2. Gifts from my love
3. A helping dream
4. A branch of evergreen
5. Joyous song!
6. Greetings from my neighbors
7. Magick for the year
8. Fine conversation
9. Nine pearls of wisdom
10. Candles for the lighting
11. Deep contemplation
12. Showers of abundance
13. A grand celebration
Shekhinah Mountainwater; 'The Thirteen Days of Solstice'   Source: Yule Songs from Pagan Digest

On the first day of Yuletide my true love gave to me,
a Circle 'round a Pine Tree.

On the second day of Yuletide my true love gave to me,
Two pointed Horns
and a Circle 'round a Pine Tree.

etc.

A Circle 'round a Pine Tree
Two pointed Horns
Three Silver Cups
Four Pentagrams
Five Magick Rings
Six critters Fetching
Seven Candles Glowing
Eight Fires Blazing
Nine Herbs a-Brewing
Ten Stones a-Standing
Eleven Brooms a-Flying
Twelve Witches Dancing
Carusone; 'The Twelve Days of Yuletide'   Source: Yule Songs from Pagan Digest

We say a congregacyon of people, a hoost of men, a felyshyppynge of jomen, and a bevy of ladyes; we must speak of a herde of dere, swannys, cranys, or wrenys, a sege of herons or bytourys, a muster of pecockes, a watche of nyghtyngales, a fllyghte of doves, a claterynge of choughes, a pryde of lyons, a slewthe of beeres, a gagle of geys, a skulke of foxes, a sculle of frerys; a pontificalitye of prestys, and a superfluyte of nonnes.
Dame Juliana Berners (Barnes; Bernes; b. 1388?), English writer on hawking and hunting; Boke of St Albans, 1486. Regrettably, Dame Juliana does not give the collective noun for maids a-milking,  lords a-leaping, etc.

December 26^th … So passed the first of the Twelve Days … With the plough under thatch and the shutters up in the workshop window, while the gentry entertained the farmers, and the farmers entertained their men. In eighteenth century Cumberland, during this period, the farmers would be meeting night after night in a different house, every man host in his turn, to sing and play, drink punch and eat good food; and should there come a knock at the door, the stranger, benighted on the fells and drawn to the promising lights, would find there a northerner's welcome.
Whistler, English Festivities

We are told that the ancient Egyptians, at the Winter Solstice, used a palm branch containing twelve leaves or shoots to symbolise the "completion of the year". 
Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988

When Boxing Day comes round again
O then I shall have money
I'll hoard it up and Box and all
I'll give it to my honey.
Traditional English  

Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
Alleged last words of St Stephen, whose day this is

Blessed be St Stephen
There's no fast at his Even.
The 'even', or eve, of St Stephen's Day is Christmas, when there is not a fast but a feast. Click for more on the Feast day of St Stephen

Good King Wenceslaus looked out on the feast of Stephen.
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.
Christmas carol, 'Good King Wenceslaus'; today is the feast of Stephen; King St Wenceslaus's feast day is September 28 (qv)

St Stephen was a serving-man 
In Herod's royal hall. 
He served him with meat and wine 
That doth to kings befall. 

He was serving him with meat, one day, 
With a boar's head in his hand, 
When he saw a star come from the East 
And over Bethlehem stand ...
From 'St Stephen was a Serving-Man'

Then followeth Saint Stephens day,
   whereon doth every man
His horses jaunt and course abrode,
   as swiftly as he can,
Until they doe extreemly sweate,
   and than they let them blood,
For this being done upon this day,
   they say doth do them good,
And keepes them from all maladies
   and sicknesse through the yeare,
As if that Steven at any time
   took charge of horses heare.
Naogeorgus (1511 - '63), (translated by Barnabe Googe, 1540 - '94)

The inner man is a saint; the outer man is a sinner. That is why we confess in the Creed that the church is holy but pray for forgiveness of sins in the Lord's Prayer.
Martin Luther, church reformer; December 26, 1531

Where ignorance is bliss
'Tis folly to be wise.
Thomas Gray, born on December 26, 1716; Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.
Ambrose Bierce, who was last heard from on December 26, 1913; An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.
Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

CYNIC n. A blackguard whose faulty vision causes him to see things as they are, not as they ought to be.
Ambrose Bierce, Devil's Dictionary

Everything that happened to me happened too late ... It was even so with my birth. Slated for Christmas, I was a half hour too late.
Henry Miller, American author born on December 26, 1891; Tropic of Capricorn

Fifty percent of the people in this country don't vote. They simply don't want to be implicated in organized society. With, in most cases, a kind of animal instinct, they know that they cannot really do anything about it, that the participation offered them is a hoax. and even if it weren't, they know that if they don't participate, they aren't implicated, at least not voluntarily. It is for these people, the submerged fifty percent, that Miller speaks.
Kenneth Rexroth, American writer; The Reality of Henry Miller, 'Bird in the Bush'

We don't kick the [expletive] out of them – we send them to other countries so they can kick the [expletive] out of them.
US official explaining how suspected Al Qaeda members are delivered to foreign countries for interrogation, Washington Post, Thursday, December 26, 2002

December 26 is the 360^th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (361^st in leap years), with 5 days remaining.
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Twelvetide

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12

The first day of Christmas: the 12 Days of Christmas begin  

The twelve days of Christmas owe their origin to the Roman Saturnalia, a festival in honour of Saturn, the god of Agriculture. The first day is December 26 and the twelfth and last is Epiphany, ie, January 6. The Twelve Days have traditionally been a time of festivities, though there are sombre religious days within them.

The already popular British song first appeared in print in 1780, when it was listed as a 'memory-and-forfeits' game in a children's book, Mirth Without Mischief (there were also versions in the European and Scandinavian traditions as early as the 16^th Century). The object of the Twelve Days of Christmas game was to participate in singing the song without mixing up any of the gifts; a mistake could cost a kiss or a sweet.

It's interesting to note that by the twelfth day of Christmas, the true love had cumulatively sent to the singer exactly 364 gifts, or one for each day of the year except Christmas Day. It has been suggested, by William H Riker, Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA (in Journal of American Folklore, LXXII (1959)) that the medieval author was exercising his numerological wit in this old rhyme. Whether a Christmas present was ever sent is not known.

 

Origin of the Twelve Days of Christmas: An Underground catechism  (False)

It's an urban legend  

 

 

When do the Twelve Days of Christmas actually begin and end, and why?

The Romans may have celebrated Saturnalia from December 17 through December 24, but when are the Twelve Days of Christmas? We say they are from December 26 till January 6 inclusive.

Many people believe they are the twelve days preceding December 25, and certainly it's during this period that the famous Christmas song will most often be heard. However, the Twelve Days commence after Christmas and not before.

There seems to be, however, some confusion in books and the mass media and on the Internet as to the precise days on which the festival actually falls, even allowing for the Twelve Days to follow Christmas. Here are some differing conceptions of the dates:

"The twelve days of Christmas begin on Christmas Eve and end on the eve of the Epiphany (January 5th)."   Source

"The twelve days of Christmas begin on Christmas day and end on January 6th, which is called the Epiphany, the day we remember the visit of the Wise Men to Jesus."
Source: Dovedale Baptist Church

" … the days between Christmas Day and the morning of January 6."
Source: Give Us Back Our Twelve Days of Christmas!

"Many of the Christmas festivities used to commence on St. Thomas's Day, December 21, and end on Twelfth Day, or Epiphany, January 6, so-named because it was twelve days after Christmas. Incidentally Twelfth Day is Old Christmas Day."
Source: The Cheshire Magazine

"… the Twelve Days of Christmas which end on January 6th with Twelfth Night."   Source: School of the Seasons

 

The last of these suggestions is the one that Wilson's Almanac also follows. The Twelve Days go from December 26 until January 6 inclusive, for the simple reason that January 6 (Epiphany) has always been known in the English tradition as Twelfth Day. Counting back, Eleventh Day must therefore be January 5 (qv for more), and so on to First Day, December 26. No other explanation that I have seen seems as persuasive.

Similarly, we propose that Twelfth Night customs take place on the night of January 6, not on January 5 (Twelfth Day Eve, or Twelfth Eve) as some suggest (read the reasoning behind this).

One verse of an ancient Pembrokeshire, England 'wren boys' carol traditionally sung on St Stephen's Day is one of many items of evidence that help us date Twelvetide – the Twelve Days of Christmas – as traditionally beginning on December 26 rather than Christmas Day itself, and thus, counting 12 days, the dating of Twelfth Day and Twelfth Night on January 6:

Now Christmas is past, 
Twelvetide is at last, 
And we bid you adieu; 
Great joy to the new. (Rest of song)

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days stands to be corrected if necessary, and I will change all the days' pages between now and January 6, if a persuasive argument to the contrary can be shown. It's a subject that no one seems to be sure of, but the contention that Twelfth Night is the eve of Twelfth Day, and (by counting 12 days backwards) the Twelve Days begin on December 25, seems not to accord with the authorities on the matter. I would be happy – nay, delighted – to hear cogent arguments to the contrary.

Discussed also at January 5 (Epiphany Eve) in the Book of Days, and here

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Click stars for Universe today Cafe Diem! Highly recommended: Folklore of World Holidays by Margaret Read MacDonald Golden Bough Folklore classic Yule Decking the Halls Folklore & traditions of Christmas plants Mao: The Unknown Story By Jung Chang International best-selling exposé Wild Swans By Jung Chang The Winter Solstice The Fires of Yule A Keltelven Guide for Celebrating the Winter Solstice Sabbat Entertaining The Pagan Book of Days Eight Sabbats for Witches Celebrate the Earth A Year of Holidays in the Pagan Tradition Wheel of the Year Be A Goddess The Wiggles - Yule Be Wiggling The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq The Oxford Dictionary of Saints The Book of Saints The Encyclopedia of Saints Daily Everything Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Lord of the Rings   To support this project Search by keywords for books, music, computers, software, home and family products and much more.     Search for posters An Inconvenient Truth By Al Gore; DVD & book The Permaculture Home Garden By Linda Woodrow The Corporation Highly recommended DVD A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy Remotely Controlled: How Television Is Damaging Our Lives and What We Can Do About It What Would Jefferson Do? By Thom Hartmann How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World Pagan Christianity For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire By James Yee Crimes Against Nature : How George W Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy By Robert F Kennedy, Jr The Price of Loyalty The Torture Debate in America The Culture of the New Capitalism   Lawless World   The Great War for Civilisation By Robert Fisk The God Who Wasn't There A Question of Torture By Alfred McCoy When Corporations Rule the World Alternatives to Economic Globalization Feminism Without Borders Commercialization of Intimate Life By Arlie Russell Hochschild The Skeptic's Dictionary Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them Lucifer Ascending: The Occult in Folklore and Popular Culture Cassell's Dictionary of Superstitions Encyclopedia of Superstitions Philosophy of Popular Superstitions 1853 More books, calendars, T-shirts, mugs, music, posters, etc at   Cafe Diem! Celtic Daily Prayer Dude, Where's My Country? Photo of the day Mother Earth Spirituality Click to promote  your blog or website  another excellent  way we do

Feast day of goddess Nitauqrit (Nitocris; Rhodopis), Queen of Egypt This Egyptian goddess was known as 'The Rosy-cheeked Beauty', builder of the Third or Southern Pyramid. The Greeks gave her the more harmonious name of Rhodopis, which was the exact translation of the characteristic epithet of the Egyptian queen. One day as she bathed in the Nile, an eagle stole one of her gilded sandals and carried it off in the direction of Memphis. There it let it drop in the lap of the king, who was administering justice outdoors. The king, astonished at this event, caused a search to be made throughout the country for the woman to whom it belonged. Rhodopis thus became queen of Egypt, and was allowed to build herself a pyramid; this, as has been frequently remarked, is reminiscent of the story of Cinderella.   Ursids meteor shower (Dec 17 - 26) Birthday of Horus, ancient Egypt    Source St Stephen's Day, a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic, Croatia et al Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints Boxing Day Boxing Day is a public holiday observed in Australia and many other Commonwealth countries on December 26. In many European countries it is also a holiday. Independence Day, Slovenia Period of Ursids meteor shower ends Wrenboys celebrate Wren in Ireland First day of Junkanoo street parade in the Bahamas (the second day is on the New Year's Day)     This day at the Book of Days is so big I've had to post it in two parts. Click for the next big page of December 26 quotes and customs       1194 Frederick II (d. 1250), Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 1532 Guilielmus Xylander (d. 1576), German classical scholar 1536 Yi I (Yulgok) of Joseon (d. 1584), Confucian scholar   1716 Thomas Gray (d. 1771), English poet ('Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard') and letter-writer, born at No 41, Cornhill, London . He was not fitted for society because of extreme quietness. His friends knew him as ultra-fastidious. Did not engage in rough games. Had a morbid fear of fire. He had a fire escaped fitted to the outside of his second-storey college room window. The other lads came one night and yelled "Fire!", and laughed when he fled out the window. This caused him to leave St Peter's college, Cambridge.  His poem, 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard', is sometimes said to be the most quoted poem in the English language. He showed it to his friends without speaking of its publication, but his friend Horace Walpole took it to the editor of The Magazine of Magazines, who told Gray he would publish it. This caused the shy Gray to urge Walpole to have it privately printed anonymously, with an advertisement saying that the publication was by an unavoidable accident. This was done, but the magazine editor beat them to it, and the poem was published in February 1751. 1734 George Romney (d. November 15, 1802), English portrait painter 1735 Prince Josias of Coburg (d. 1815), Holy Roman Empire general 1751 Clement Mary Hofbauer (d. 1820), Redemptorist missionary 1780 Mary Fairfax Somerville (d. 1872), UK mathematician 1791 Charles Babbage (d. 1871), English mathematician and inventor of computing machines 1819 E.D.E.N. Southworth (d. 1899), US novelist 1822 Dion Boucicault (d. 1890), Irish actor and playwright   1827 Étienne Léopold Trouvelot (d. April 22, 1895), French artist, astronomer and amateur entomologist. He is most noted for the unfortunate introduction of the Gypsy moth into North America, but he was also an important figure in the science of astronomy. Following a coup d'état by Louis Napoleon in 1852, he fled with his family to the United States. They settled in the town of Medford, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, at the address of 27 Myrtle St, where he supported himself and his family as an artist.  Trouvelot had an interest as an amateur entomologist. In the US, silk-producing moths were being killed off from various diseases. He decided to experiment with cross-breeding these moths with the disease-resistant Gypsy moth from Europe. Ignoring the known problems with this species, in the late 1860s he imported a cluster of Gypsy moth eggs into the country. While attempting to cultivate these eggs on a tree in his back yard, some of the larvae escaped into the nearby woods. He immediately realized the potential problem he had caused and notified some nearby entomologists, but nothing was done. Shortly following this incident Trouvelot lost interest in entomology and turned to astronomy. In this field he could put his skills as an artist to good use by illustrating his observations. His interest in astronomy was apparently aroused in 1870 when he witnessed several auroras. When Joseph Witlock, the director of Harvard College Observatory, saw the quality of his illustrations, he invited Trouvelot onto their staff in 1782. In 1875 he was invited to use the US Naval Observatory's the 26-inch refractor for a year. During the course of his life he produced about 7,000 quality astronomical illustrations. 15 of his most superb pastel illustrations were published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1881. He was particularly interested in the Sun, and discovered "veiled spots" in 1875. Besides his illustrations, he also published about 50 scientific papers. By 1882, Trouvelot returned to France and joined the Meudon Observatory. This was a few years before the magnitude of the problem caused by his Gypsy Moth release became apparent to the local government of Massachusetts. He died in Meudon, France. The Gypsy Moth became considered a serious pest by 1898, having spread to Virginia in the south and to the states near the Great Lakes in the west. They remain a problem pest up to the present day. Source: Wikipedia Trouvelot and the UFOs On August 29, 1871 at the Meudon Observatory in France, Trouvelot saw several flying objects ... (read on at August 29 in the Book of Days). Trouvelot's chromolithographs    Gyspy moth in North America   1837 George Dewey (d. 1917), admiral in the United States Navy 1853 René Bazin (d. 1932), French novelist 1868 Ernest Lane (Ernie Lane; d. June 18, 1954), English-born Australian journalist, younger brother of William Lane; associate of Edwin Brady, SA Rosa, Alfred Yewen and Larry Petrie. His memoirs are a source of much interesting information about the early Australian labor movement. Along with people such as George Black, WG Spence, and Henry Lawson he was a member of the radical fraternity Knights of Labor. In 1903 Lane with his wife and children went to Cosme, the breakaway colony from New Australia. Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson 1891 Henry Miller (d. 1980), American writer (Tropic of Cancer; Tropic of Capricorn)   1893 Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung; Mao Tse Tung; d. 1976), Chinese Communist dictator, greatest mass murderer in history (though some claim his communist ally, Josef Stalin). Figures of between 35 and 100 million murders are quoted for the Chinese Communist holocaust. Hollywood seems assiduously to have neglected, and determined to ignore, this fact, when one notes the ceaseless multitude of movies about Adolf Hitler's awful, but lesser, gruesome activities. People of goodwill and a little historical knowledge might well ask ask why this should be so. The lower figure for Mao's atrocities does not include the figure of 27 million who died as a direct result of Mao's deliberately engineered and misnamed 'Great Leap Forward' famine of 1959 - '63. Beat beat beat Beat down Liu Shaochi Defend defend defend Defend protect Chairman Mao Liu Shaochi Opposes Chairman Mao Wang Guang Mei  [Liu Shaochi's wife] You love fetid beauty Children's jump-rope rhyme from the Cultural Revolution period Mao's campaign against ideological opponents   China's Bloody Century Incidents in the 'Cultural Revolution'    A Memorial to Victims of Communism CASUALTIES OF CHINESE COMMUNISM, 1949-1987 Period   Years   Deaths Totalitarianization   1949-1953   8,427,000 Collectivization