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View Full Version : 'Christmas' battle has gone on for centuries



Phantom Blooper
12-24-05, 06:41 AM
December 24,2005
BY OTIS GARDNER

Awhile back I wrote a column about what we sang as kids. One little ditty I mentioned was "Ring Around the Rosy."A reader e-mailed me some interesting background on its history. It seems the lyrics grew from the plague and death it brought to so many.

"Ring around the rosy" described pinkish rings around skin blotches, a visual symptom of the illness. "Pocket full of posies" refers to the practice of using flowers stuffed in pockets of the deceased to help mask the stench of rot.

Hardly the jolly kiddy tune giggled on playgrounds but, like many seemingly innocuous things, deeply rooted in history.

To use an example of the present season, there's a popular Christmas carol that makes little sense to most of us but is likewise dripping with history. An old friend of mine, Ritchie Crawford, sent me an interesting blurb about it. There's so much more to it than meets the eye â?¦ or lips.

I doubt many of us have any idea what leaping lords, French hens, swans and a partridge has to do with Christmas. I figured it might've been an old drinking song, sung at tables accompanied by mugs of beer and gales of laughter.

But this isn't a tavern tune. It's been around for a very long time, is serious and darkly connected to the love life of Henry the VIII.

Henry, as you probably know, had a six-pack of wives, among them Anne Boleyn. Had he been granted an annulment from her so he could marry Jane Seymour, the world wouldn't have had this song or the Church of England.

We modern folk would've been denied the wonderful performance of Richard Burton as "Becket" Also fewer heads would've rolled, which is a huge thing if you happened to be Anne.

But the church didn't yield and the rest, as they say, was history. After establishment, the new English church instituted restrictions on Catholicism. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly.

Due to these limitations, this carol was written as a surreptitious catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning; the apparent nonsense verses that I sing along with on my radio and a much deeper level.

Each verse contained a code word, which children associated with their faith to help them remember lessons. We do the same thing now by making up phrases to help instill and retrieve knowledge. If you ever had guitar lessons, I'm sure your teacher taught "every good boy does fine," EGBDF.

To the subject at hand, when you peel away the apparent silliness of this carol, it's anything but gibberish. The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ. Two turtledoves were the Old and New Testaments.

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love. Four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament. The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit: Prophesy Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.

Eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes. Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control.

Ten lords a-leaping were the Ten Commandments. Eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples. And, finally, the twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

I've heard the song all of my life but from now on will hear it differently. I'm not at all religious, not a member of any church or denomination and have never been. I dislike religious dogma of all flavors.

But being far outside all the tents and camps doesn't stop me from recognizing the debt I owe to those who practice their faith. Without the foundation of Judeo-Christian values and the underpinning of the Ten Commandments, we wouldn't be who we are.

This year for some weird reason, there's a loud and vigorous effort to unravel all religious threads from the fabric of our culture. How ridiculous can people be?

To any who find the Christian references of the season offensive, my message to you is that I think you're complete idiots. Ho, ho, ho.

To everyone else, in the best spirit of the season, I send my warmest wishes for a very, very merry Christmas.


Otis Gardner's column appears each Saturday. He can be reached at ogardner@ncfreedom.net.