In honour of the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere, here's a message (you may have seen before) revised and updated from the print edition which included typos, lazy writing and an egregious error.
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In the latter half of the 20th century – long after the song itself was made – claims arose about the “secret meaning” of the gifts of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Persecuted Catholics, so the claims went, hid catechism in the words of the song, so the partridge was Jesus, the four calling birds were the four gospels and so on.
There’s no proof for these claims (and lots of reasons to doubt them).
The one sure thing is that you can match just about anything to a list of numbers from one to twelve.
With that in mind, here’s a Canadian code for the 12 Days of Christmas.
Partridge in a pear tree – Alex Trebek on Jeopardy
Two turtle doves – The Ryans, Gosling and Reynolds
Three French hens – Celine Dion, Alanis Morrissette and Avril Lavigne
Four calling birds – The NDP, Liberals, Conservatives and Parti Quebecois (sorry, Green Party)
Five golden rings – Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC, Toronto Dominion Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia
Six geese a-laying – Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, Atlantic and Newfoundland time
Seven swans a-swimming – The Group of Seven
Eight maids a-milking – The women’s Olympic rowing team
Nine ladies dancing – The Supreme Court of Canada
Ten lords a-leaping – Viola Desmond
Eleven pipers piping – Pizza Pizza
Twelve drummers drumming – the 1967-1970 National Hockey League
Thanks for reading!
It's brighter from now on!
Karen
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| The Allan Gardens are ever so slightly open for your holiday viewing pleasure (25 people at a time, please). The turtles seem glad for the company. |
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