Twelve Days of Christmas-for teaching catechism?

Subject: RE: Twelve Days of Christmas
From: MMario
Date: 21 Dec 99 - 12:55 PM

That would be interesting, except that the older ENGLISH versions use a juniper branch, or a juniper bough... Which doesn't sound ANYTHING like pear tree

Subject: RE: Twelve Days of Christmas
From: Jacob Bloom
Date: 21 Dec 99 - 12:43 PM

I understand that the older French word for partridge is pertrix, pronounced pear-tree, and that the original version of the song had the first gift as "a partridge, une pertrix."

Subject: RE: Twelve Days of Christmas
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 21 Dec 99 - 12:29 PM

The French word for partridge is perdrix, pronounced (almost) pear-tree. I expect you j=knew that Liz?

Steve

Subject: RE: Twelve Days of Christmas
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Dec 99 - 03:22 AM

Look at the version in the Second Penguin book of Carols, that has some very strange gifts.....

LTS

Subject: RE: Twelve Days of Christmas
From:
Date: 20 Dec 99 - 03:58 PM

Some versions here

Subject: RE: Twelve Days of Christmas
From: MMario
Date: 20 Dec 99 - 01:28 PM

I will have to check my references, but the older versions of this song have different, sometimes VERY different gifts.

Subject: Twelve Days of Christmas Question
From: MTed
Date: 20 Dec 99 - 01:18 PM

I just received another copy of the now notorious "12 Days of Christmas has hidden catechism reminders" via e-mail. Last year I did some research and found the catechism lessons which the song lyrics supposedly teach are from the Baltimore Catechism, which was not the catechism used at the time of the Catholic surpression--

However, it did get me to thinking that I had seen, once, somewhere, another explanation for the significance of each of the rather curious gifts, to the effect that they were elements in some tradtional pagent of some sort--anybody know anything about this?