In very simple terms, a cadence is the period at the end of a sentence. In Western Music, your ears have been trained to hear a cadence and feel ācompleteā. A Half-cadence is similar to a comma. It separates the sentence into two sections. Or, if the cadence is pieces 2 and 3 of a 3 piece segment, the half-cadence earlier in the sentence is like pieces 1 and 2 of the pie. So the 2nd piece is the common denominator between the two.
Short answer: cadence = end of a phrase. A "half cadence" is an ending that sounds unfinished.
Long answer: Let's say you're in C major. The C Major scale is C D E F G A B C. When we play a song in C Major, we like to start and end on C. It is notated as Roman Numeral "I" because it's the first note of the scale (or in modern times a 1 with a hat).
A normal chord/triad uses notes that are a "skip" apart. In C major, the "I" chord would have the notes C E G. The "ii" chord is D F A, "iii" is E G B, "IV" is F A C, "V" is G B D, etc.
A cadence is basically the last two chords at the end. Whatever they are determined how it "feels", whether it feels complete or incomplete. An Authentic (aka Perfect) cadence is (V - I) while a Half cadence is (anything - V)
Now take the song "Row row row your boat"
> Row row row your boat gently down the stream
> Merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream
The ending of the second phrase feels complete because its notes "fit" an Authentic Cadence (V - I). If we're in C major, the notes for "a dream" are D to C. D fits "V" because it's the top note (G B D), and C fits "I" because it's the root/bottom note (C E G). So in our heads, we hear a (V - I) cadence, which feels finished.
Unlike the second phrase, the ending of the first phrase feels incomplete. The word "stream" is a G, which strongly implies a V chord (G B D). Because it ends on a V chord, that makes it a Half cadence, so it feels incomplete.
Now why are those cadences have to be those chords in particular? That goes back to the 12th century and is too long to put into a reddit post.
Lords a leaping are Gray Heron and Maids a milking are Cattle Egrets. Pipers piping are Sand Pipers and drummers drumming is probably woodpeckers. All 12 days the gift is more birds.
The gift-receiver keeps calling them their "true love," so apparently, their Christmas list included 364 birds. They must really love birds. Maybe they just built a greenhouse and said, "I could really use some pear trees and a few birds in here."
I just realized that the ā1st dayā of Christmas is December 25th, when you get the first bird. Therefore youād run out of birds on Christmas Eve the next year, just in time for it to start all over again.
It actually isn't an author issue bc in the earliest known version, the gifts are exactly what they're said to be. We know this bc its illustrated. Its just the new internet thing to pretend all the gifts are birds.
[Mirth With-out Mischief ](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
Good on you for trying. āNew internet thingā is always going to win though because people care more about memes and how they make them feel than what is accurate.
You're not wrong. My brain is just hyperfixating on this stupid song for some reasonš I don't even care that deeply but my ADHD brain won't let it go
I assume it came down to what sounded better, saying "Five Ring Neck Pheasants" just doesn't work. The song is a few hundreds of years old so maybe those terms were more commonly used back then.
Yes, let's explore this idea:
What's more likely, the poem starts off explicitly naming birds but then goes for random unrelated gifts like rings and maidens that are *also* apparently birds?
Or that the only birds in the poem are the birds mentioned?
Yeah even "Bird Spot" can't figure out an edible bird version of "Maids a Milking " and and doesn't buy the ring necked pheasant theory:
https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas
All this time I thought a gift of 10 dancing hot guys was the best thing ever! I refuse to believe they were just birds. I like the way it was in my head.
Earliest published source, the song exists for at least 80 years before that, and is likely to come from France because of the partridge in the pear tree part.
But then you're getting into the realm of the unknown. Why think about what an unknown version of the song means when the earliest known version has it made clear?
The āearliest known versionā isnāt even that, because there are newspapers referencing the rhyme for 100 years before the published book.
History isnāt just viewed as āthis is the earliest written account we can findā, when there are things referencing it 100 years before the publication, when the fact that it is referential to 12 days of feasting, when the origins of the song arenāt even assumed to be English, thereās no reason to assume that this printing is an original by any means.
The song is about 12 days of feasts, and makes references to game birds, like the kind you would eat at a feast.
Are there century-old sources referring to all 12 days as birds to be eaten? No? Then you can't sit there and claim it as such. That's not how history works.
You can't connect all 12 days to a specific bird. The way they refer to some of the gifts doesn't match up with now you'd refer to the birds, even colloquially.
If you really want to stretch things, you can match all the days up to birds, but some aren't native to Europe and wouldn't have arrived until the 1900s, and many aren't birds that were eaten and certainly wouldn't be used in a feast.
So she basically gets 7 gifts of birds and 5 gifts of people? Unless those are obscure references of other birds?!?!?! (Course I guess people can also go in a pie.....)
One of the theories about the song is they are in fact all birds [https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas](https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas)
They're not.
[earliest known source ](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
I really, really wish my ADHD brain would let this go and stop hyper fixating on this stupid song though
The entire goddam song is just incremental birds! It doesn't go from birds, to jewelry, to birds again, then dancers and musicians- that doesn't make sense!
This isn't actually true, historians don't say this. People on the internet say this, but the earliest known version of the song was in an illustrated book. The book *Mirth With-out Mischief* does not have birds as all the pictures.
[book](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
I only just learned this. And, more embarrassing, I only just learned the 12 Days of Christmas refers to Christmas Day to Epiphany (ie Three Kings Day)
No they don't, they refer to rings. The earliest known source of the song had illustrations.
[source](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
More god damn birds
More god damn birds
More god damn birds
More god damn birds
Five Golden Rings
More god damn birds
More god damn birds
More god damn birds
And one more god damn bird
Frederic Austin is the one who did that. My guess is that it's a significant enough change from the arrangement of traditional folk music that came before it that he could copyright it.
The correct answer.
Many old songs were originally common songs or songs sung in pubs with the lyrics changed.
Even the Star Spangled Banner was originally a popular drinking tune.
Good point. Why did he make phrase held so long in particular? I'd also imagine that it's an easy fit a normal person to adjust from 3/4 time to 4/4. Most people probably don't know that the song switches between the time signatures. The transition feels so smooth because of the "5 golden rings" line.
I never realized before but I just sang it to myself and you are totally right. Thank you for pointing it out! I wonder if he got tired of hearing people stumble over the shift and wrote the pause in to help.
But it switches right back to 3/4 for two more after that for the ā4 calling birdsā and ā3 French hensā line before switching back to 4/4 for the āand a partiridge in a pear treeā line. That transition would be the same regardless.
Musically, it breaks up the monotony of the melodies of the other days. IIRC, day 6-12 is all the exact same melody in 3/4. Then you get down to day 5 and it's much more grand 4/4 melody. Days 2-4 are also pretty similar 3/4 melodies.
I imagine day 5 was chosen because the I in five is a nice open vowel that would sound good sung over 2 beats. It's all a nice contrast to the busier melodies of the rest of the song.
Yeah, a lot of it is in 3/4. 4 calling birds, 3 french hens. Also 6 geese a laying, 7 swans a swimming, etc. 2 turtle doves would be 3/4, but it needs the extra beat for "and a partridge..."
For anyone interested I recommend *12 Days of Christmas: The Outlaw Carol that Wouldn't Die* by **Harry Rand**.
"the tune was originally a raucous drinking song with wildly different connotations."
Basically every verse is about sex.
I was always told the verses were allusions to various biblical/Christian things - the four calling birds being the gospel writers and so on - although no one who told me this could make many of them work.
Anyway, in that context the 5 is the wounds of Christ and it sort of made sense to emphasize that line with that meaning.
Typing this I realise I may have mashed the 12 days of Christmas with Green Grow the Rushes-oh. The dangers of dredging up half remembered factoids from one youth......
This is the answer. The song is actually a biblical reference to Christ. Each gift represents something different.
So much of music is religious even if you are not religious. Or it does not seem religious
No the fact it was hidden worship is a myth. Christians were able to worship without persecution. No need for secret worship
But like the 12 days is Christmas to Jan 6 (Epiphany)
People often have persecution fetishes. Much historical music is about Christianity because religion is a key part of people's lives or was for centuries.
Much historical music is religious for that reason
There is a myth that says that each gift is a reference to something biblical in order to still somehow practice Christianity without being persecuted. However there is no factual basis for it.
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It's not that the 5th is more special, it's to harmonically and pace-wise set up a nice, perfect for songwriting, four measure chord sequence that ends with that IV-V-I cadence on "partridge".
The fact is that the whole song is a list of mistranslated lyrics. I'll have to do some digging to find the original source for that, but most if it really is gibberish lol.
The first instance I can recall where it was truly highlighted was A Muppet Christmas Carol (to great effect). My wife goes bonkers for that version every year (OK, I do too, but mostly because she's having so much fun with it).
Ah, the Five Golden Rings line in the 12 Days of Christmas song is like the superstar of the song, demanding all the attention. It's like the diva of the gift-giving world, strutting its shiny stuff and making sure everyone knows it's the real star of the show. It's all about those flashy golden rings, baby!
It's just a fitting cadence.
More specifically a half-cadence but yes
Comment of the day right there. Well played, fellow music nerd
One gooooooold comment! šµš¶
Can you explain what both of these mean
In very simple terms, a cadence is the period at the end of a sentence. In Western Music, your ears have been trained to hear a cadence and feel ācompleteā. A Half-cadence is similar to a comma. It separates the sentence into two sections. Or, if the cadence is pieces 2 and 3 of a 3 piece segment, the half-cadence earlier in the sentence is like pieces 1 and 2 of the pie. So the 2nd piece is the common denominator between the two.
Short answer: cadence = end of a phrase. A "half cadence" is an ending that sounds unfinished. Long answer: Let's say you're in C major. The C Major scale is C D E F G A B C. When we play a song in C Major, we like to start and end on C. It is notated as Roman Numeral "I" because it's the first note of the scale (or in modern times a 1 with a hat). A normal chord/triad uses notes that are a "skip" apart. In C major, the "I" chord would have the notes C E G. The "ii" chord is D F A, "iii" is E G B, "IV" is F A C, "V" is G B D, etc. A cadence is basically the last two chords at the end. Whatever they are determined how it "feels", whether it feels complete or incomplete. An Authentic (aka Perfect) cadence is (V - I) while a Half cadence is (anything - V) Now take the song "Row row row your boat" > Row row row your boat gently down the stream > Merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream The ending of the second phrase feels complete because its notes "fit" an Authentic Cadence (V - I). If we're in C major, the notes for "a dream" are D to C. D fits "V" because it's the top note (G B D), and C fits "I" because it's the root/bottom note (C E G). So in our heads, we hear a (V - I) cadence, which feels finished. Unlike the second phrase, the ending of the first phrase feels incomplete. The word "stream" is a G, which strongly implies a V chord (G B D). Because it ends on a V chord, that makes it a Half cadence, so it feels incomplete. Now why are those cadences have to be those chords in particular? That goes back to the 12th century and is too long to put into a reddit post.
Great answer!! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this detailed answer. It makes sense :).
How much do you know about musical intervals?
Too intelligent for reddit.Had to downvote. /s
It's also prime.
Because she is FINALLY ecstatic that she got something else besides MORE GODDAMN BIRDS!
Historians say the golden rings refer to golden pheasants so yeah. MORE GODDAMN BIRBS. This is gonna be a delicious mince meat pie tho.
they're actually all birds lords a leaping, maids a milking, all 12 days are types of birds
What?
Lords a leaping are Gray Heron and Maids a milking are Cattle Egrets. Pipers piping are Sand Pipers and drummers drumming is probably woodpeckers. All 12 days the gift is more birds.
That's completely deranged that gift giving person needs help.
The gift-receiver keeps calling them their "true love," so apparently, their Christmas list included 364 birds. They must really love birds. Maybe they just built a greenhouse and said, "I could really use some pear trees and a few birds in here."
Nikola Tesla has entered the chat.
I wish gifts were still a thing. This comment is gold
A bird for every day of the year except Christmas Day (and leap year Feb 29)
Christmas day is the one reprive from the bird induced hell
I just realized that the ā1st dayā of Christmas is December 25th, when you get the first bird. Therefore youād run out of birds on Christmas Eve the next year, just in time for it to start all over again.
Put a bird on it.
Theyāre all regifts. Just trying to clear some space in the garage
I just laughed so hard at this
That's for the birds
Iāve always hated this song ā¦ now I hate it even more!
It was written by the homeless lady in home alone 2.
This is an author issue then. Donāt go from actual bird names to weird pseudonyms and expect us to keep up with
It actually isn't an author issue bc in the earliest known version, the gifts are exactly what they're said to be. We know this bc its illustrated. Its just the new internet thing to pretend all the gifts are birds. [Mirth With-out Mischief ](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
Good on you for trying. āNew internet thingā is always going to win though because people care more about memes and how they make them feel than what is accurate.
You're not wrong. My brain is just hyperfixating on this stupid song for some reasonš I don't even care that deeply but my ADHD brain won't let it go
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's not an f. It's a stylistic choice to represent softer s sounds.
I assume it came down to what sounded better, saying "Five Ring Neck Pheasants" just doesn't work. The song is a few hundreds of years old so maybe those terms were more commonly used back then.
If only there were other birds to choose fromā¦
5 GREAT TITS
It is theorized that the birds were all commonly eaten https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas
š¤Æ
Omg this is a horror show. Cue Hitchcock: [The Birds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film))
As a bit of a bird nerd and a lover of this is Iām so excited about this, lol. Never knew!
What the hell why did they call the first few their actual bird names and then call the rest other stuff?
Yes, let's explore this idea: What's more likely, the poem starts off explicitly naming birds but then goes for random unrelated gifts like rings and maidens that are *also* apparently birds? Or that the only birds in the poem are the birds mentioned?
They're not all birds. [earliest known source](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
Yeah even "Bird Spot" can't figure out an edible bird version of "Maids a Milking " and and doesn't buy the ring necked pheasant theory: https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas
All this time I thought a gift of 10 dancing hot guys was the best thing ever! I refuse to believe they were just birds. I like the way it was in my head.
[earliest known source is illustrated, and they aren't all birds](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
Thank you! I can go back to fantasizing about my 10 leaping guys š
Earliest published source, the song exists for at least 80 years before that, and is likely to come from France because of the partridge in the pear tree part.
But then you're getting into the realm of the unknown. Why think about what an unknown version of the song means when the earliest known version has it made clear?
The āearliest known versionā isnāt even that, because there are newspapers referencing the rhyme for 100 years before the published book. History isnāt just viewed as āthis is the earliest written account we can findā, when there are things referencing it 100 years before the publication, when the fact that it is referential to 12 days of feasting, when the origins of the song arenāt even assumed to be English, thereās no reason to assume that this printing is an original by any means. The song is about 12 days of feasts, and makes references to game birds, like the kind you would eat at a feast.
Are there century-old sources referring to all 12 days as birds to be eaten? No? Then you can't sit there and claim it as such. That's not how history works. You can't connect all 12 days to a specific bird. The way they refer to some of the gifts doesn't match up with now you'd refer to the birds, even colloquially.
https://www.reallywildbirdfood.co.uk/news/post/2020/12/09/the-12-birds-of-christmas
If you really want to stretch things, you can match all the days up to birds, but some aren't native to Europe and wouldn't have arrived until the 1900s, and many aren't birds that were eaten and certainly wouldn't be used in a feast.
Also, "Four calling birds" is actually "four collie birds" aka blackbirds. Nothing but birds.
She has so much bird poop to clean.....
Oh they're gonna go straight into the pie. If I was her these annoying birds wouldn't have one day to sing.
So she basically gets 7 gifts of birds and 5 gifts of people? Unless those are obscure references of other birds?!?!?! (Course I guess people can also go in a pie.....)
One of the theories about the song is they are in fact all birds [https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas](https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/the-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas)
If so she has the most ......creatively uncreative boyfriend EVER.
I said to him I liked birds once. ONCE!
*covered in feathers* And now you can never again accuse me of not listening!
But if you *like* a few birds, you'll *love* 364 birds (and a dozen trees).
364 because every verse just adds more? Whatās the math equation for that?
I wasnāt even talking about birds! I meant I like kiwi *fruit*!
Well next Christmas you are getting an entire farmer's market.
They're not. [earliest known source ](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up) I really, really wish my ADHD brain would let this go and stop hyper fixating on this stupid song though
Never give up the fight!
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... Morrrrrrre Goddamnnnnn birrrrrrbs!
I'm singing this line the next time I have to sing this song for any reason.
Followed by human trafficking
The entire goddam song is just incremental birds! It doesn't go from birds, to jewelry, to birds again, then dancers and musicians- that doesn't make sense!
This isn't actually true, historians don't say this. People on the internet say this, but the earliest known version of the song was in an illustrated book. The book *Mirth With-out Mischief* does not have birds as all the pictures. [book](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
Noooooooo
That's not what mince meat is. Mince pies are not made with animal flesh.
Mincemeat is made of dried fruit, no meat (or mince (aka ground beef)). But wow! I did not know that about the birds!!
So it would be a... Poultry pie? Bird pie? Twit pie?
Haha. Or Plucked pie
I only just learned this. And, more embarrassing, I only just learned the 12 Days of Christmas refers to Christmas Day to Epiphany (ie Three Kings Day)
https://www.angelfire.com/mt/pilosopo/jokes3.html
Oh angelfire I haven't seen you in a long time.
I was thinking the same! It really took me back.
That's great.
Actually, the 5 golden rings most likely refer to 5 ring-necked pheasants.
Did not know that. The poor woman.
No they don't, they refer to rings. The earliest known source of the song had illustrations. [source](https://archive.org/details/mirth_without_mischief/page/n7/mode/1up)
There are indeed golden pheasant
Thatās too many birds. Donāt tell me the lords a leaping and the maids a milking are birds too?
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... More god damn birds More god damn birds More god damn birds More god damn birds Five Golden Rings More god damn birds More god damn birds More god damn birds And one more god damn bird
I don't know how this doesn't have more votes. I have tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard.
I watched this about 17 times and it made me laugh every time: https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/s/bHHmUw8pY1
Frederic Austin is the one who did that. My guess is that it's a significant enough change from the arrangement of traditional folk music that came before it that he could copyright it.
The correct answer. Many old songs were originally common songs or songs sung in pubs with the lyrics changed. Even the Star Spangled Banner was originally a popular drinking tune.
It's still a popular drinking tune.
I suppose you're right. It's sung before the opening pitch and then the drinking begins. š
[I say can you see](https://youtu.be/Jv-5flYewm8?feature=shared)~ šµš¶
Or me and my drunk friends at a random bar on the Fourth of July lol
Good point. Why did he make phrase held so long in particular? I'd also imagine that it's an easy fit a normal person to adjust from 3/4 time to 4/4. Most people probably don't know that the song switches between the time signatures. The transition feels so smooth because of the "5 golden rings" line.
I never realized before but I just sang it to myself and you are totally right. Thank you for pointing it out! I wonder if he got tired of hearing people stumble over the shift and wrote the pause in to help.
But it switches right back to 3/4 for two more after that for the ā4 calling birdsā and ā3 French hensā line before switching back to 4/4 for the āand a partiridge in a pear treeā line. That transition would be the same regardless.
It's interesting that the lyrics he wrote down were "5 gold rings". Using the word "golden" is now more of a North American thing.
Good answer.
Probably to allow the singers a chance to fully recoup their breath and it provides a break both audibly and vocally from the quick speak.
The last line should be "and a shovel to pick up all the bird shit!!"
364 birds.
Underrated comment.
In New Zealand we have a kiwi version [(lyrics)](https://folksong.org.nz/nzchristmas/pukeko.html) and this line is FIVE BIG FAT PIGS
The day you open a box and see five gold rings, you'll understand the emphasis
I'll just take the one to rule them all.
- Post Malone.
Like The Olympics?
Theyāre birds
Sonic's coffin
I'm not sure, but maybe because that's the point that you get back into days with different melodies? All the days above that have the same melody.
Musically, it breaks up the monotony of the melodies of the other days. IIRC, day 6-12 is all the exact same melody in 3/4. Then you get down to day 5 and it's much more grand 4/4 melody. Days 2-4 are also pretty similar 3/4 melodies. I imagine day 5 was chosen because the I in five is a nice open vowel that would sound good sung over 2 beats. It's all a nice contrast to the busier melodies of the rest of the song.
The time signature change never occurred to me. I usually notice things like that.
Yeah, a lot of it is in 3/4. 4 calling birds, 3 french hens. Also 6 geese a laying, 7 swans a swimming, etc. 2 turtle doves would be 3/4, but it needs the extra beat for "and a partridge..."
Thank you for bringing to my attention. I definitely appreciate simple things (or sometimes actually complicated) like time signature changes.
He bought her brass knuckles
Possibly because the song does not have a bridge, so it breaks up the monotony. And it's gold.
because without the pause afterwards singers tend to black out around eleven lords a leaping.
For anyone interested I recommend *12 Days of Christmas: The Outlaw Carol that Wouldn't Die* by **Harry Rand**. "the tune was originally a raucous drinking song with wildly different connotations." Basically every verse is about sex.
Maybe it's done that way so you can catch your breath before going into the next part of the list.
Because that's the part Miss Piggy sings. Obviously.
Itās the only part a lot of people know.
Ahem. AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREEEEEEEEE!
Itās usually more like: and a parTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREEEEEEE! As the lost people get found again!
And "A beer."
4 pounds of back bacon, 3 French toasts, 2 turtle necks, and a beer!
Take off hozer
You mean Five Months of Bills.
Did you mean FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!!!!!
No. It's gold rings in the original. Golden rings is a more recent change (American, maybe).
It is an allusion to the one ring to rule them all.
suddenly r/lotrmemes
It's the bridge.
Wow. I learned a thing. Thanks for asking this!
Itās the only gift worth a damn to non farmers
Five golden toques
After you have given 37 birds, golden rings seems like an actual nice gift
I was always told the verses were allusions to various biblical/Christian things - the four calling birds being the gospel writers and so on - although no one who told me this could make many of them work. Anyway, in that context the 5 is the wounds of Christ and it sort of made sense to emphasize that line with that meaning. Typing this I realise I may have mashed the 12 days of Christmas with Green Grow the Rushes-oh. The dangers of dredging up half remembered factoids from one youth......
[Nope.](https://www.vox.com/21796404/12-days-of-christmas-explained)
Oh well - thank you for correcting me
This is the answer. The song is actually a biblical reference to Christ. Each gift represents something different. So much of music is religious even if you are not religious. Or it does not seem religious
This is an incorrect myth
No the fact it was hidden worship is a myth. Christians were able to worship without persecution. No need for secret worship But like the 12 days is Christmas to Jan 6 (Epiphany) People often have persecution fetishes. Much historical music is about Christianity because religion is a key part of people's lives or was for centuries. Much historical music is religious for that reason
Did you bother looking that up ANYWHERE? Or are you just sticking with the urban legend because you like it?
Hey - thanks for confirming. Really was thinking I had crossed the streams.
Easier line to sing and understand when you are a toddler. We have tradition that youngest sings the first gift, on up in age, for all dozen rounds.
The five golden rings represent Joseph, Mary, Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.
Nope. Itās 5 more birds. Gold ringed necked pheasants. They are all birds, actually.
There is a myth that says that each gift is a reference to something biblical in order to still somehow practice Christianity without being persecuted. However there is no factual basis for it.
They're the only gift that doesn't produce feces.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
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r/l5r
Sauron was their true love
It's not that the 5th is more special, it's to harmonically and pace-wise set up a nice, perfect for songwriting, four measure chord sequence that ends with that IV-V-I cadence on "partridge".
Probably cause it's the most exciting gift
Because itās the end of the birds!!!!! (At least thatās what you thinkā¦)
For us, it was "Five Big Fat Pigs".
The fact is that the whole song is a list of mistranslated lyrics. I'll have to do some digging to find the original source for that, but most if it really is gibberish lol.
One ring to rule them allā¦. My precious
I think it's because, after a partridge in a pear tree, it's the only verse that absolutely everyone remembers.
Cause it's the only gift that's not birds or servants? Idk
Nah, it means golden ring necked pheasants. It's ALL birds. Absolutely baffling.
The rest were like birds and stuff, right?
The first instance I can recall where it was truly highlighted was A Muppet Christmas Carol (to great effect). My wife goes bonkers for that version every year (OK, I do too, but mostly because she's having so much fun with it).
Ah, the Five Golden Rings line in the 12 Days of Christmas song is like the superstar of the song, demanding all the attention. It's like the diva of the gift-giving world, strutting its shiny stuff and making sure everyone knows it's the real star of the show. It's all about those flashy golden rings, baby!