Fun Fact Decmeber 13, 2021.
On the first day of Christmas…well, you know. When exactly is the twelve days of Christmas? It begins on Christmas day with a partridge in a pear tree and ends on January 5th with twelve drummers drumming. In between you get two turtle doves, three French hens and four calling birds. On the fifth day, it’s five golden rings. Day six and seven we’re back to the fowl gifts, that’s F O W L, with six geese a laying and seven swans a swimming. A couple of ladies make the scene on days eight and nine; eight maids a milking and nine ladies dancing. Ten Lords leap next then eleven pipers, doing what pipers do best, piping. The earliest known version of the lyrics was published in London under the title “The Twelve Days of Christmas sung at King Pepin’s Ball”, as part of a 1780 children’s book, Mirth without Mischief. This version was recited without music. The standard tune now associated with it is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin. Listen to the podcast here; https://theriver953.com/lonnies-fun-fact/
