| DOWNLOAD | The 12 days of Christmas are the days between
the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi (Epiphany, January 6). The song
was presented in its earliest known printed version, in the 1780 children's book Mirth
Without Mischief. Possibly, the song has been confused with (or is a transformation of) a song called "A New Dial" (also known as "In Those Twelve Days"), which dates to at least 1625 and assigns religious meanings to each of the twelve days of Christmas (but not for the purposes of teaching a catechism). http://www.snopes2.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp |