The urban legends and truths about Christmas

Would you believe that the Christmas song The Twelve Days of Christmas is embroiled in quite a serious urban legend? This traditional and favorite Yuletide song first appeared in an English children’s book way back IN 1780 entitled Mirth without Mischief. Whoever composed this song left us a subject of contention since there’s an older version in French and still another one in Scottish and its words have hidden meanings.

Stories go that The Twelve Days of Christmas was actually composed to “contain the basic beliefs of Catholicism, masked in secular words” because “it was supposedly composed at a time when being a Catholic in England was considered a crime and The Twelve Days of Christmas was a sort of coded Catechism reminder. Read and decide for yourself.

Christmas has its share of urban legends. Are they false or true? I’ll say plausible enough to believe in and passed on and on. They’re like folklores that are not really untrue but are stories that have been distorted and embellished over a period of time yet they are unlike gossip.

Here are a few phrases from this cheery song and their supposed symbolisms: 1) “My true love sent to me…” — true love, meaning God; 2) “Two Turtle doves…” is linked to the Old and New Testaments; 3) “Three French hens…” are the theological values of faith, hope and charity; 4) “Four Calling Birds…” are the four gospels or the four evangelists (Mark, Matthew, John and Luke); 5) “Five Golden Rings…” is thought to be the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Pentateuch, which relates man’s fall from grace and the history of the original sin; 6) “Six geese-a-laying…” are the six days of creation —“…and he rested on the seventh day”; 7) “Seven swans-a-swimming…” is said to be the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit or the seven sacraments; 8) “Eight maids a-milking…” are the eight beatitudes; 9) “Nine ladies dancing…” are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit; 10) “Ten lords a-leaping…” are the Ten Commandments; 11) “Eleven pipers piping…” are the 11 faithful apostles; and 12) “Twelve drummers drumming…” are the 12 points of doctrine in the Apostle’s creed. So Twelve Days of Christmas and 12 references of Catholic teachings — what do you think?

On a lighter side, another Yuletide legend involves a favorite article, the Christmas candy cane — that candy shaped like a cane or a “J.” Rumor has it that the “J” shape represents Jesus; the white stripe symbolizes Jesus’s purity and innocence and the red stripe suggests the blood of Jesus to save mankind. Nice how they turned a simple, tasty treat into something with religious significance — but it’s just another Christmas myth that’s amusing.

Now how about some Christmas truths? Did you know that there were originally only eight reindeers? As the song goes, “You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen… but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all….Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer…” 

We didn’t know Rudolph because he wasn’t in the poem ‘Twas the Night before Christmas” where the eight were first mentioned. Additionally, “Donner” and “Blitzen” were originally “Dunder and “Blixem,” which are Dutch words for “thunder” and “lightning,” respectively. Only later was Rudolph created by Robert May as an advertisement strategy for the Montgomery Ward Department Store, and his brother-in-law Johnny Marks wrote a song that made Rudolph truly the most famous reindeer of all.

And how about Christmas shortened to Xmas? What a pity? I got a text message earlier saying it was disrespectful — no, blasphemous — that Christ’s name is shortened to just an “X.” Actually this abbreviation originated from the Greek alphabet. X is the letter Chi or “C,” which is the beginning of “Christ.” During the days when printing was done by hand and became expensive, the Church began to use the abbreviation “X” to represent “Christ” to cut down on costs. Thereon, “Xmas” was an accepted way of abbreviating “Christmas.” So it’s not forgetting Christ after all.

And a final Christmas truth and one that we can probably learn a lesson or two from is the “World War I Christmas Truce.” This was 1914, when the German and the British soldiers sang Christmas carols, exchanged gifts and played soccer. Pope Benedict XV suggested holding the truce and while the Germans readily agreed, the British were instructed to be very cautious. But the wary British front-liners could hear the Germans celebrating and see many of their Christmas trees lighted, and while they thought it was a trick, the two exchanged Christmas carols. 

From a personal account of a soldier, he remembers their side singing The First Noel and remembers the other side clapping when they finished. Then the German side sang O Tannenbaum and the exchange went on for a while until the British sang O Come All Ye Faithful and the Germans immediately joined in singing the same song to the Latin words Adeste Fideles, and they found each other singing the same carol in the middle of the war. At that particular time, they truly lived the prayer “peace on earth and goodwill to all men.” I’m saying maybe the warring clans, tribes and extremists could stop and exchange Christmas carols, too. It would be nice to have a little bit of that peace within us all through Christ!