The 12 Days of Christmas -- More Than a Song
Understanding the Christian Symbolism - Part 5
How do you like The 12 Days of Christmas song now? Has your perspective of it changed over the past few days as we’ve learned more about the Christian symbolism? (Visit the homepage to read the entire series.)
We are now at the final two lines in the song.
Eleven pipers piping: the eleven apostles chosen by Christ who followed Him during His life, death, resurrection, and ascension to Heaven. (Judas is not included, because he did not remain faithful.)
Twelve drummers drumming: the Jewish people saw the number twelve as meaning completion, so the twelve here represents several things. There were twelve minor prophets, twelve apostles (Matthias replaced Judas), twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve Christian beliefs included in the Apostle’s Creed.
As we finish this five-part series about the faithful origins of The Twelve Days of Christmas, it’s useful to examine our beliefs as described in the Apostles’ Creed.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
He descended into hell;
on the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.Amen.
Thank you for joining me as we learned about this lovely Christmas song. I wish you a wonderful Christmas Season as these twelve days deliver us to Epiphany, when three kings bowed to the King of kings.
I will also bring the The Three Kings series to a close in the next article as we see how they demonstrated faithful fortitude, trusted God, and protected Jesus who would become their Savior and Redeemer.
(Details about The 12 Days of Christmas come from Rev. William P. Saunders, Lacy Lynch, and Helen Handle.)
