Christmas Love, a 'Mistake'

The following post is what I assume is a “true” Christmas story that I couldn't help but share in a 'politically correct' world. 

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Christmas Love, a 'Mistake' ~ (Author Unknown)

“Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on non-essential obligations: extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's 'Winter Pageant'. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production.

Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats.

As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love", I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row- center stage - held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.

As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love." 

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down - totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W".

The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W".

Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together.

A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. 

 In that instant, we understood - the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities.

For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear: 

"CHRISTWAS LOVE"


And, I believe, He still is.”

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I wish I knew who wrote this. If it is indeed a true story, whether or not it was an honest blunder or an ingenious 'mistake' devised by a Christmas Defender hidden among the teaching staff, it would be one of those rare times this writer would find a typo most welcome.

Have a Happy and Blessed Christmas Season! Here are some other Christmas stories and musings you might like:

*) I'm Keeping the Partridge, and the Pear Tree too! 

*) The Rich Man's Son, a Christmas Story 

*) Preparing the Perfect Christmas 

Like my blog?  You'll LOVE my books!  Check them out!  (Click here).

 

 

 

I'm Keeping the Partridge, (and the Pear Tree Too!)

 

‘Tis the season to sing carols, fah la la la lah, la lah, lah, lah!

Yes, I just had to include all the fah, la, lahs.

(Image: "Partridge in a Pear Tree" by Lynn Bywaters)

Christmas wouldn’t be the same without all the sacred hymns and jingly secular tunes that reminds us of what the season is all about, including all the nonsense syllables like ‘fah la lah’, or the cryptic lyrics in some carols that have us wondering what they could possibly mean every year we hear them sung.  You’ve already guessed from the title I’m thinking in particular of the repetitive song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” listing an unusual and generous assortment of gifts presented from one sweetheart to another.  “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...”. 

I once read that the gifts were supposed to be symbolic of various points of Catholic doctrine, a hidden ‘underground’ catechism to help the  Catholics learn their faith at a time when practising Catholicism was criminalized in England in 1558 until 1829. That sounds like a logical and satisfactory explanation, right?

Now, I  have just read that the original article supposedly explaining the spiritual meaning of the lyrics was  only suggestive and did not present any historical facts!

In 1979, a Canadian hymnologist named Hugh D. McKellar published a piece entitled "How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas", concocting an explanation for each gift and how they represented the Catholic Faith.  McKellar offered no evidence for his claim and subsequently admitted in 1994 that the purported dogmatic associations were his own interpretations that the symbols suggested to him,  for 'evocative  symbols do not allow for any definitve explanation':

 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.  (Hugh D.McKellar, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", The Hymn Vol. 45, No.4, October 1994)


To make matters worse, people assumed his explanations were the true intended meanings and innocently spread his conjectures as fact for years.  In fact, you still see these theoretical explanations of the lyrics floating around the internet and other sources:


Partridge in a pear tree: Jesus Christ, symbolized as a mother partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from helpless nestlings.

Two turtle doves: Old and New Testaments

Three French Hens: Faith, hope, charity

Four Calling Birds: The Four Gospels

Five Golden Rings: The Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy)

Six Geese a Laying: 6 days of creation

Seven Swans a Swimming: 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Eight Maids a-Milking: 8 Beatitudes

Nine Ladies Dancing: 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit

Ten Lords a-Leaping: 10 Commandments

Eleven Pipers Piping: The 11 faithful disciples
  

Twelve  Drummers Drumming: 12 articles of the Apostles Creed

Sad to say, there is no proof this was the original meaning of the song, and was in fact only a suggestive explanation made up in 1979, making up the story it was a hidden Catholic catechism, which the guy finally admitted to doing in 1994. 

 If you’ve noticed, these are not just Catholic articles of faith, but also tenants believed by Protestants.  There is no reason to hide the meaning of the song as believers from either faith could sing it, even during the persecution times. 

Here are a few facts:

 There is evidence the song first originated in France, and when it arrived in England it was sung by children as a silly forfeits game: each person playing the game had to remember their verse, and if they got it wrong when their turn came, they had to forfeit a kiss or a sweet.  Hence, the repetitive (and sometimes annoying!) nature of the lyrics.  In fact, the original French version there is no pear tree in the first line, just a ‘pretty partridge’.  The pear tree was added later!


The English version of the “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was first published without music in 1780 in a children’s book entitled “Mirth Without Mischief”, and the last order of the gifts were as follows:  8 Maids a’ Milking, 9 Drummers Drumming,  10 Pipers Piping, 11 Ladies Dancing, 12, Lords a Leaping.  The idea was the gift was to be grander than the last, so of course it would end with a bunch of festive, merrymaking aristocrats.  This order of gifts was retained in subsequent versions, but was mixed up as time passed.  The current version of the song we know including the mixed up gifts seems to have originated from an edition published in 1909 by Frederic Austin, who also changed the ‘four colly birds’ (blackbirds) to ‘calling birds’.

So, despite the cheery holiday tune, the real purpose of the song is not as lofty as we were led to believe.

Yes, I’m disappointed!  If there is a higher meaning to the lyrics, we may never know what it is for certain, the numbers associated with the gifts could be attributed to any of the mystic numbers associated with the Christian Faith.

 At least McKellar attempted to present a spiritual interpretation, and even if we can't give credence to all his proposed meanings, I refuse to relinquish one of the symbolisms ~ the pretty partridge and the pear tree.  It is one of the few images that bear a truly Christian meaning in the carol.

 (Image: French Partridge and chicks, by Archibald Thorburn, 1915)

When I think of a partridge, St. John the Evangelist, the Apostle beloved of Christ, immediately springs to mind.  According to the 'Acts of John' purportedly written by his disciple, Leucius Charinus, St. John used to be amused by a pet partridge, picking it up and stroking it, or watching it play and preen its feathers in the dust.  One day he was questioned by a hunter who wondered how so great a man like him chosen by God and working so many miracles could lower himself to playing with a little creature like that.  Finding amusement in something so simple should be beneath him! St. John just calmly asked the hunter what he had in his hand and the hunter replied he had a bow.  John then asked why it was not always stretched ready for the hunt, and the hunter replied if it was always strung it would lose its tension and cease to be useful.  John replied he was doing the same in taking some relaxation and finding some time for humble, simple amusements to ease his mind, for if he was always stretched at work his mind would eventually grow as slack as his bow and would not be able to obey the power of the Spirit.

The story is not just a reminder of the need to take some time off once in awhile, it recalls the virtue of humility as it was deemed base for St. John to find amusement and spend time with a simple creature like that.  As we return to the Christmas carol, what a wonderful reminder St. John’s partridge is, that Christ for love us came humbly as a baby ~ the Lamb of God was born in a stable and laid in a manger.

I’m also 'keeping' the pear tree even if it is a later English addition, for there is something quite intriguing as the song progresses: there is an unusual accrual of numbers that show the multiplied 'fruits' of humility if you examine the lyrics from another angle.

In the beginning only one tree and partridge is given as a present, yet by the end of the song, it is sung twelve times, and while the lady love may have been given a magnificent gathering of twelve lords a' leaping at the conclusion, they are mentioned only once.  The eleven regal ladies are presented only twice, the ten pipers three times, etc, according to the orginal order of the gifts. So, all the humble presents presented in the beginning multiply while the seemingly luxurious and pride-filled gifts actually dwindle in the end despite their number.  Of importance, the song begins and ends with the partridge and the tree, the Alpha and Omega of the entire carol: if we have Christ, we have a treasure indeed!  I cannot help but think of this passage in the Book of Revelation written by St. John:

“And he shewed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  In the midst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the Tree of Life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no curse any more; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.” (Apoc. 22: 1-3)

I wonder if the heavenly fruits resemble a pear?

May all my readers have a blessed a peaceful Christmas and New Year!

Here are some Posts from ‘Christmas Past’:

* Preparing the Perfect Christmas

* The Rich Man's Son, A Christmas Story 

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Like my blog? You'll LOVE my books!

Click here and check them out!

Preparing the Perfect Christmas

(Post originally published December 24, 2010)

 (Image: Angels pray at the birth of Christ, from the Wellcome Trust)

During these difficult times with the Great Recession, preparing for Christmas seems a near impossible task, trying to be happy when everything around appears to be at its lowest point.

If you think you are alone, don't worry, the Holy Family knows what you are going through: the first Christmas was just like this.

Imagine awaiting the arrival of your first child, but the foreign government that is occupying your country has declared a census in which you must return to your town of origin to register. You are forced to pack up and travel by donkey to a city far away through a rocky, frigid desert, as the heat of the summer is now over, and you cannot take all the things you prepared for the baby other than a pack of swaddling clothes. There is no place to stay when you arrive, the baby is about to be born, and all you are offered is something no better than a shelter for animals. If all that were not enough, the ruler of the area fears your newborn child and plans to slaughter it to ensure he stays in power. You are now a refugee forced to flee to a strange country through the Sinai Desert with no friends or family around you.

Everything appears to be a disaster, yet it was the most perfect Christmas: Christ the Saviour was born to free us from the darkness of sin. The Bread of Heaven came to earth and was laid in a manger to become our spiritual food and open paradise to us. God's promise of a Redeemer given to mankind thousands of years in the past was fulfilled at last. Shepherds were sent a heavenly messenger to tell them to adore the Shepherd of shepherds. The stars aligned to show the three wise men where to find the birthplace of the the Saviour and worship him as King of Kings. Providence was there for the Holy Family in their time of need, no doubt the shepherds brought food and warm fleece for them, the kings had provided gifts that could help financially cover their journey to Egypt.  Of course, this did not make the situation any easier, but it is good to know that if you trust in God, He will see you through. A little trust in God goes a long way.

“Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.” ~ Calvin Coolidge.

I wish all my readers a holy and a peaceful holiday season, and hopefully a prosperous New Year to you all.

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Click here and check them out today!