Yuletide and the 12 Days of Christmas
While my daughter was butchering the lyrics to “Deck the Halls” the other day, I had to explain that it’s “troll the ancient Yuletide carol,” not “yuletime.” Then I realized I couldn’t really explain what Yuletide was. With Christmas right around the corner, you need to know this too.
Yuletide roughly translates back to its Scandinavian roots to mean “the season of feasting.” Yuletide was said to last for twelve days, from December 13 to December 24. BUT, don’t confuse those twelve days of Christmas with THE Twelve Days of Christmas.
The Twelve Days of Christmas in the song with the same name refers to the time between Christmas and the Epiphany (January 6). There is a lot of history and speculation involving the meanings of the song lyrics which can be found in the link below. Regardless of what they mean, I’d happily trade those four calling birds for an iPhone any day of the week.
Read on:
htmlPlanet.com – Christmas and Yuletide Origins
crivoice.org – The Twelve Days of Christmas
Links2Love.com – lyrics to “Deck the Halls”
(image above taken from: http://crujonessociety.com/2008/12/22/12-days-of-christmas-exposed/)
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