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Twelve Days of
Christmas: Day 12
"There is one
Christmas Carol that has always baffled me. What in the world do
leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the
partridge who won't come our of the tree have to do with
Christmas? "Well here is the story as I
heard it. From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not
permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era
wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two
levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known
only to members of their church. "Each element in the carol has
a code word for a religious reality which the children could
remember.
Well, Ken, on the one hand,
"yes" but on the other hand "no." This may be one of those myths
created by those who delight in "filling in the blanks" in the
history of the world. Gallup determined that 80% of
the "first person" preacher stories were just made up. That is the
nature of religion: just make it up. That is obviously true in the
myth makers to make it into our song books. A drama expert notes that
"drama works because we know it isn't true." Therefore, don't get too
confused about this little ditty. However, I believe that the story has such
powerful messages about paganism that I cannot resist returning some
of my collected stuff. Consistent with many non-Biblical songs, I
suspect the underlying message is intended to teach paganism by
gradualism where a frontal preachment of paganism might drive people
over the brink and fire you now or hang you then. I don't plan to look at all of
this but consistent with most songs it is probably not just kid's
nonesense. Nor, is it uniquely Catholic dogma which would endanger
their lives. As I read history there was never too much hesitation to
speak your mind. My ancestors escaped France in 1685, went to Belgium
and then England. They didn't leave because they refused to teach
their beliefs. The latter day
theology of this Urban Legend is in red. The partridge in a pear tree
was Jesus Christ. The pear tree line has some
very interesting, but pagan history. Like many "christian" songs
there is not just a repudiation of the Word but the substitution of some teaching of error. Why else go to the
trouble? The new "praise craze" sweeping the world majors in really
childish stuff teaching error. That is the way you teach
children. However, this would not be an
outrageous story. The history of Jazz and "gospel music" note the
overwhelming influence of Black protest song. You know, you can
"boogie woogie" or now "Rock" in church and the white masters just sing along totally ignorant of the
inside meaning to the black community simultaneously ridiculing and
dominating the culture. They, in turn, derived many of the messages
and the "beat" from Voodoo. I watched a black "praise" service on TV
the other day and it was quite identical to documentaries I have seen
about Voodoo -- except the "chickens" being sacrificed wore white and
fluttered around the room repeating the dancing, jerking and barking
of early revivalism strongly influenced by black protest.
Their songs of Rock and Rap
still fulfills history in that "slaves" usually force their culture onto the "masters." Plato warned that when
the nature of the songs change it is most often in order to "change
the government." Too many of us are the
proverbial frog being boiled to death through the process of gradual
changism. Historians and musicologists
are absolutely aware that the frontier revivalism was fueled by black
"gospel." About those
partridge. If this is a
coded song I would believe that it had little to do with the Bible
and all to do with the pagan beliefs and practices which were more
likely to get them into trouble with Protestants. Most Catholic traditions are
derived from paganism and they don't even blush about it. See the
Catholic Encyclopedia on candles, the first paragraph
reads: "We need not shrink
from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were
commonly employed in pagan worship and in the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period
took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things
indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendour of religious ceremonial. We must not
forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations,
canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc. were not identified
with any idolatrous cult
in particular; they
were common to almost
all cults. They are, in fact,
part of the natural language of mystical expression, and such things belong quite as much to
secular ceremonial as they do to
religion. We have enhanced the "harps in
revelation" like those condemned by Amos to show that they the Greeks
were involved in the "cult of the dead" while the living must teach the Word. http://www.piney.com/MuHarpRev.html
"In Middle English pertriche
"partridge," was derived from Perdix,
one of Athena's sacred kings, thrown in the seas from a
tower, and carried to
heaven in the form of a bird by
his Goddess. Athena was worshipped in Boeotia as Once, the
Pear Tree, mother of all
pear trees.
Perdix, whose name originally meant "the Lost
One," was a form of Vishnu-Narayana, called Lord of the Pear Trees in
his holy city of Badrinath in the Himalayas (from badri, "pear
tree"). The pear tree had a feminine-masculine significance through
Eurasia. It was also sacred to Hera,
whose oldest image at Heraeum in Mycenae was made of pear wood. European peasants considered the pear a favorite
"life-tree" for a girl. In Russia pears were used as protective
charms for cows. It seems that when the partridge in a pear tree was
made into a Christmas carol the symbol of Christ was substituted for
Perdix. A.G.H."
Because Mary, the "mother of
god" is viewed as "the Holy Spirit" and Mediatrix replacing Jesus, we
might see this as Mary having a dominant role. Icarus had his wings melted when he tried to
fly: So he spoke, and his father's
knees were loosened where he stood, and his heart melted, as he knew
the sure tokens which Odysseus told him. About his dear son he flung
both his arms, and the much-enduring, goodly Odysseus caught him unto
him fainting. But when he revived, and his spirit returned again into his breast, once more he made answer, and spoke,
saying: Father Zeus, verily ye gods yet hold sway on high Olympus, if
indeed the wooers
have paid the price of their wanton insolence. But now I have wondrous dread
at heart, lest straightway all the men of Ithaca come hither against
us, and send messengers everywhere to the cities of the
Cephallenians. Then Odysseus of many wiles
answered him, and said: Be of good cheer, and let not
these things distress thy heart. But let us go to the house, which
lies near the
orchard, for thither I sent
forward Telemachus and the neatherd and the swineherd, that with all
speed they might prepare
our meal. So spoke the two, and went
their way to the goodly house. And when they had come to the stately
house, they found Telemachus, and the neatherd, and the swineherd
carving flesh in abundance, and mixing the flaming wine. Then the old Sicel woman took
Laertes inside and washed
him and anointed him
with oil. She put him
on a good cloak, and Athena came up to him and gave him a more
imposing presence, making him taller
and stouter
than before. When he came back his son was surprised to see him
looking so like an immortal, and said to him, "My dear father, some
one of the gods has been making you much taller and
better-looking." Two turtle doves were the
Old and New Testaments However, Catholics note that
the two primary meanings of the dove is the Personal Holy Spirit or His Work. I
doubt that the kids would get into trouble singing about the Old and
New Testament. The Eucharist as the "real presence of the body of
Christ" is carried in a tri-chained vessel like the dove. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05144b.htm
Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love. That fits the abiding gifts of
"faith, hope and love." of 1 Corinthians 13 The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark,
Luke & John. The 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. The 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. Boethius in Consolation of
Philosophy notes
the battle between the Nine
Dancing
Ladies who were the
nine
muses to which
prominent leaders must dance: "Muses of poetry with lyre never support those in sorrow by any healing remedies, but rather do ever foster the sorrow by poisonous sweets. These are they who
stifle the fruit-bearing harvest of reason
with the barren briars of the passions: they free not the minds of men from disease, but accustom them thereto." Boethius echos Job 21, Amos 5 and 6, Isaiah 5
and Ezekiel 33 in discussing the eternal battle between truth or
philosophy and music which just hides the wounds of life or pulls the scabs from festering wounds.
When she saw that
the Muses of
poetry were present by
my couch giving words to my lamenting, she was stirred a while; her eyes flashed fiercely,
and said she, "Who has suffered
these seducing
mummers to approach
this sick man? Never
do they support those in sorrow by any healing
remedies, but rather do ever foster the sorrow by poisonous sweets. These are they who
stifle the fruit-bearing harvest of
reason with the barren briars of the
passions: they free not the minds of men from disease, but accustom them thereto. I would think it
less grievous if your allurements drew away
from me some uninitiated man, as happens in the vulgar herd. In such an one my labours would be naught harmed,
but this man has been nourished
in the lore of Eleatics and Academics; and to him have ye reached?
Away with you, Sirens,
seductive unto destruction! leave him to my
Muses to be cared for and to be healed.' When
Zeus had an affair with Mnemosyne, he coupled with her for nine consecutive nights, which produced nine daughters, who became known as the
Muses. They entertained
their father
and the other gods as a celestial choir on Mount Olympus. They became deities of intellectual pursuits. Also the
three Charites or Graces were born from Zeus and Eurynome. From all
his children Zeus gave man all he needed to live life in an ordered
and moral way. He sang
the story of the deathless gods and of the dark earth, how at the
first they came to be, and how each one received his portion.
First among the gods he
honoured Mnemosyne, mother
of the Muses, in his song; for the son of Maia was of her
following. And next the goodly
son of Zeus hymned the
rest of the immortals
according to their order in age, and told how each was born,
mentioning all in order
as he struck the
lyre upon his arm.
But Apollo was seized with a longing not to be
allayed, and he opened
his mouth and spoke
winged words to
Hermes: And though I am a follower of
the Olympian Muses who love dances and the bright path of song --
the full-toned
chant and ravishing
thrill of flutes --
yet I never cared for any of
those feats of skill at young
men's revels,
as I do now for this: Strabo Geography
[10.3.10] And on this account Plato, and
even before his time the Pythagoreians, called philosophy music; and they say that the universe is
constituted in accordance with harmony, assuming that
every form of music is the work of the gods. And in this sense, also, the
Muses are
goddesses, and Apollo
is leader of the Muses,
and poetry as a whole is
laudatory of the
gods. And by the same course of
reasoning they also attribute to music
the upbuilding of
morals, believing that
everything which tends to correct the mind is close to the gods.
Now most of the Greeks assigned
to Dionysus, Apollo, Hecate, the Muses,
and above all to Demeter, everything of an orgiastic or Bacchic or choral
nature, as well as the
mystic element in initiations; and they give the name "Iacchus" not
only to Dionysus but also to the leader-in-chief of the mysteries,
who is the genius of Demeter. And branch-bearing, choral dancing, and initiations are common elements in the worship
of these gods. As for the
Muses and Apollo,
the Muses preside over
the choruses, whereas
Apollo presides both over these and the rites
of divination. But all educated men, and especially the musicians, are ministers of the Muses; and both these and those who have to do with
divination are ministers of Apollo; and the initiated and
torch-bearers and hierophants, of Demeter; and the Sileni and Satyri
and Bacchae, and also the Lenae and Thyiae and Mimallones and Naides
and Nymphae and the beings called Tityri, of Dionysus. The ten lords a-leaping were
the ten commandments. The
Lord of Misrule is worth reading from the Online
Britannica One of the outbursts about the
time this song was written involved even "Lord's leaping." Not only the poor but the most
educated people could get involved in the "revivals" and fall under
the charismatic spell. This was also the sign of Baal or Canaanite
"bending the knew" which consumed most of Israel in the time of
Elijah. "In the last
quarter of the seventeenth century the fruit of these ideas began to
ripen. In the year 1684
Increase
Mather published his
book, --Remarkable
Providences--, laying
stress upon diabolic possession and witchcraft. This book, having been sent over to England,
exercised an influence there, and came back with the approval of
no less a
man than Richard
Baxter: by this its
power at home was increased. Richard Baxter was a Puritan
minister b. Nov. 12, 1615, Rowton, Shropshire, Eng. d. Dec. 8, 1691,
London. However, he was very involved in limiting the Monarchy in
favor of the "Lords." "In 1688 a poor family in
Boston was afflicted by demons: four children,
the eldest thirteen years of age, began leaping
and barking like dogs or purring like cats, and complaining of being pricked, pinched, and cut;
and, to help the matter, an old Irish woman was tried and
executed. "In 1760 some congregations of Calvinistic Methodists in
Wales became so fervent that they
began leaping for
joy. The mania
spread, and gave rise to a sect called the "Jumpers." A similar outbreak took place afterward in
England, and has been repeated at various times and places since in
our own country. "A few years later we have an
even more striking example among the French Protestants. The Huguenots, who had taken refuge in the mountains of the
Cevennes to escape persecution, being pressed more
and more by the cruelties of Louis XIV, Men, women, and
children
preached and
prophesied. Large assemblies were seized with trembling. Some underwent the most terrible tortures without
showing any signs of suffering. Marshal de Villiers, who was sent against them, declared that he saw a
town in which all the women
and girls,
without exception, were possessed of the devil, and ran
leaping and screaming through the streets. Cases like this, inexplicable
to the science of the time, gave renewed strength to the theological
view. The only antecedant is the
Baal worship: "Among these pupils
is found to much greater extent than among the teachers a certain
ecstatic feature. They arouse their feelings through music and induce a frantic
condition which also affects others in the same way, in which state
they 'prophesy' and, throwing off their garments, fall to the
ground. In later times too we find traces of such ecstatic phenomena.
Thus e.g. in Zech 13:6; 1 Ki. 20:37-38, the 'wounds' on the breast or
on the forehead recall the self-mutilation of the priests of Baal (1 Ki. 18:28). The deeds,
suggestive of what the dervishes of our own day do, probably were
phenomena quite similar to the action of the prophets of the
surrounding tribes" (Int Std Bible Ency., Prophecy, p. 2462)
"'Now they leap spiritedly
into the air, now they
bend their
knees to the ground and
revolve on them like persons possessed." Now
compare with the passage in 1 K 19:18 where God promises Elijah that
he will spare 'those who have not bent the knew before Baal.'... This
also explains Elijah's reproach in 1 K 18:21 where he accuses those
who would serve both Baal and Yahweh at the same time of 'hobbling
first on one leg, then on the other." (de Vaux, p. 241). "We have evidence of
ritual
dances in the context
of other Syrian cults. One of the Ras Shamra poems, in a passage
which is unfortunately full of gaps, mention mrqdm 'dancers'
apparently in connection with a sacrifice. Herodian depicts
Heliogabalus at a sacrifice to his god of Emesa, 'dancing round the altars to the sound of
every kind of musical
instruments; with him
certain women of his country performed a sprightly round, with
cymbals and tambourines in their hands." (de Vaux, p. 241).
"This is how Apuleius describes
the cortege of the Syrian goddess '...they began to howl all out of
tune and hurl
themselves hither and thither, as though they were mad. They made a
thousand gestures with their feet and their heads; they would bend
down their necks and spin round so that their hair flew out in a
circle; they would bite their own flesh; finally, every one took his
two-edged weapon and wounded his arms in divers places." (de Vaux, p.
242) His various names
in the Old and New Testaments demonstrate the various aspects in
which he was regarded. Thus in Exodus he was named Ba`al-Tsephon, the god of the crypt. He was likewise
named Seth or
Sheth, signifying a pillar (phallus); and it was owing to these associations that he was
considered a hidden god. Among the Ammonites, a people of East
Palestine, he was known as Moloch
(the king); at Tyre he was called Melcarth. The worship of Ba`al was introduced into Israel
under Ahab, his wife being a Phoenician princess. "Typhon,
called Set, who was a great god in Egypt during the early dynasties,
is an aspect of Baal and Ammon as also of Siva, Jehovah and other
gods. Baal is the all-devouring Sun, in one sense, the fiery Moloch"
As to the leaping of the prophets of Ba`al, mentioned in the Bible (1 Kings
18:26), Blavatsky writes: "It was simply a characteristic of the
Sabean worship, for it denoted the motion of the planets round the
sun. That the dance was a Bacchic frenzy is apparent. Sistra were used on the occasion" The pipe was never used in religious sense in the Bible. And
it was universally seen as Obscene and Jesus condemned the Jewish
clergy as children piping trying to induce the Dionysus dance
Catullus - Poem 63 wrote While the ground was still
spotted with fresh blood And the book of revelation has
the end-time religious-commercial "marriage" coming to an end:
And the fruits that
thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which
were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find
them no more at all. Revelation 18:14 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of
her torment, weeping and wailing, Revelation 18:15 And the voice of
harpers, and musicians, and of pipers,
and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no
craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more
in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all
in thee; Revelation 18:22 Arnobius, Against the Heathen asks: 42. Was it for this
He sent souls, that some should infest the highways and roads, others ensnare the unwary, forge false wills, prepare poisoned draughts; that
they should break open houses by night, tamper with slaves, steal
and drive away, not act
uprightly, and betray their trust perfidiously; that they should strike out delicate
dainties for the palate; that in cooking fowls they should know how
to catch the fat as it drips; that they should make cracknels and
sausages, force-meats, tit-bits, Lucanian sausages, with these a
sow's udder and iced puddings? Was it for this He sent souls,
that beings of a sacred and august race should here practise
singing and piping;
that they should
swell out their cheeks in blowing the
flute; that they should take the lead
in singing
impure songs, and raising the loud din of the castanets, by which
another crowd of souls should be led in
their wantonness to abandon themselves to clumsy motions, to dance
and sing, form rings of dancers, and finally, raising their haunches and hips, float
along with a tremulous
motion of the loins? Was it for this He sent souls,
that in men they should become impure, in women harlots, players on the
triangle and psaltery; that they should prostitute their bodies for hire,
should abandon themselves to the lust of all,ready in the brothels,
to be met with in the stews, ready to submit to anything, prepared to
do violence to their mouth even? The twelve drummers drumming
symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles'
Creed. A Poem of Shulgi or king Kulgi brags:
The drum was most often a symbol of torture. In fact the tortured people of Hebrews 11:35 were beaten to death on the frame drum. This has always been the theme of
paganism and, on the contrary, all of the literature of the time
speaks of the human lips as the instruments God gave His people. This
poem reads in part: I am fearless; I
dance with
joy. My words shall
never be forgotten. Praise for me because of my reliable judgments is
on everyone's lips. 79-83I drank beer in the palace founded by An with my brother and
companion, the hero Utu. My singers praised me with songs accompanied by seven tigi
drums. My spouse, the
maiden Inana, the lady, the joy of heaven and earth, sat with me at
the banquet. 131-149 I am a ritually pure
interpreter of
omens. I am the very
Nintud (creator deity) of the collections of omens. 154-174 I, Culgi, king of
Urim, have also devoted myself to the
art of
music. Nothing is too
complicated for me; I know the full extent of the tigi and the adab,
the perfection of the art of music. When I fix the frets on the lute,
which enraptures my heart, I never damage its neck; I have devised
rules for raising and lowering its intervals. On the
gu-uc lyre I
know the melodious tuning. I am familiar with the
sa-ec and with drumming on its musical soundbox. I can take in my hands the
miritum, which ....... I know the finger
technique of the aljar
and sabitum, royal
creations. In the same way I can produce
sounds from the urzababitum, the harhar, the zanaru, the ur-gula and
the dim-lu-magura. Even if they bring to me, as
one might to a skilled musician, a musical instrument that I have not played previously, when I strike it
up I make its true sound known; I am able to handle it just
like something that has been in my hands before. Tuning, stringing,
unstringing and fastening are not beyond my skills. I do not make the
reed pipe sound like a rustic pipe, and on my own initiative I can wail a sumunca
or make a lament as well as anyone who does it regularly.
175-189 I bestow
joy and gladness, and I pass my days in pomp and splendour. But people should consider for themselves -- it is
a matter to keep in one's sights -- that at the inescapable end of
life, no one will be spared the bitter gall of the land of
oppression.
He was the partridge, she the pear tree.
began to show signs of a high degree of religious exaltation.
Assembled as they were for worship in wild and desert places,
an epidemic broke out among them, ascribed by them to the Almighty,
but by their opponents to Satan. 