The Twelve Days of Christmas is an English Christmas carol first published in 1780 in a children’s book Mirth Without Mischief, which also contains the delightfully named ‘Play of the Gaping-wide-mouthed-wadling Frog’, amongst other poems and stories. The verses were originally presented without music.
One of the suggestions for the origin of The Twelve Days of Christmas is that it was intended as a ‘catechism song’, used by young Catholics to help them learn the tenets of their faith. The partridge in the pear tree is said to represent Christ, and the other verses are meant to refer to parts of the Catholic doctrine. However, this theory has been widely refuted and although the origins of the song are unknown it’s likely that it is secular in nature, perhaps written as a memory game.
One thing though is for sure. No other Christmas carol features birds quite as prominently as The Twelve Days of Christmas. We take a look at the birds featured in the carol and suggest what some of the non-ornithological verses could be referring to.
01
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me A Partridge in a Pear Tree
The partridge is a member of the pheasant family and has been a traditional game bird in the UK for centuries. Two species are contenders, the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) that was introduced in the 1700s, and the grey partridge (Perdix perdix), or English partridge, a native bird. Although the red-legged partridge is more likely to be found sitting in trees, the grey partridge is a strictly ground-dwelling bird that feeds on insects and seeds. And in the middle of winter a pear tree would be completely devoid of leaves and fruit, so it seems a strange gift to give.
One possible explanation is that something got lost in translation. The scientific name for the grey partridge is from the Latin for partridge, and the French word is perdrix. So perhaps the pear tree is simply a corruption of perdrix, which would have been an easy mistake for an Anglophone at the time who may have not seen the word written down, or even been able to read it.
Partridges were considered one of the healthiest of game birds in the medieval era. They were either roasted or enclosed in suet, and were said to be easy to digest, particularly if the bird was cooked several days after being killed.
02
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me Two Turtle Doves
The turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is a summer visitor to the UK that is sadly declining in numbers. It is a dainty dove, smaller and darker than most other pigeons.
Birds of the pigeon family were common fare in medieval times, and were first domesticated for food in Ancient Egypt. In Apicius, a collection of Roman recipes, there is a recipe for a sauce to accompany turtle dove that involves heating pepper, lovage, mint, rue seed, broth, wine, and oil.
During the Middle Ages, turtle doves were eaten by the upper classes, served roasted or in a pie. They were supposedly beneficial for people suffering from nervous disorders as they were meant to sharpen the mind and improve people’s memory.
03
On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me Three French Hens
Capons are cockerels that have been castrated to make the meat more tender. The practice is now banned in the UK, although it is still legal to import capons, but they would have been popular in the Middle Ages.
Shakespeare refers to capons in the famous All The World’s A Stage monologue from As You Like It where he describes capons as food of the wealthy. They were particularly popular with the clergy and were served stuffed, roasted, stewed, and baked into pies.
There are a several well-known breeds of French hens, such as Faverolles, La Fleche, Crèvecœurs, and Marans. Some of these had not been bred into existence in the medieval era although the Crèvecœur is a historic breed raised for both the quality of its eggs and its meat. However, Cecil Sharp, the English musician who had a keen interest in folk songs, suggested that in the carol, French may have simply meant ‘foreign’.
04
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me Four Calling Birds
Many people interpret a calling bird as a song bird, However, the original song referred to ‘Four Colly Birds’ which over time morphed into the more familiar phrase and which was written down by Frederic Austin in 1909 who also set the carol to the now-standard melody. Other variations of colly have included ‘canary’, ‘coloured’, and ‘curly’.
The word colly means ‘black as coal or soot’ so it would make sense that the gift given on the fourth day was four blackbirds (Turdus merula). Blackbirds were certainly on the menu in the medieval era but whether they were cooked is up for debate.
There are recipes for blackbird pie in historic books. One recipe for blackbird pie found in Dressed Game And Poultry à La Mode published in 1888 describes filling a pie with stuffed blackbirds and fried rump steak before sealing with puff pastry.
But a more popular dish involving blackbirds was not designed to be eaten at all. Instead, a cooked empty pie crust was filled with live birds which when set on the table was cut open and the birds would fly out much to the amusement of the guests. This tradition is immortalised in the children’s nursery rhyme ‘Sing A Song Of Six Pence’ in which four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie flew out and sang when the pie was opened before one of them pecked off a maid’s nose while she was hanging out the washing.
05
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me Five Gold Rings
With a house full of birds, the recipient of these Christmas gifts may have been relieved to receive something that didn’t fly, flap, or peck. However, it’s not certain whether the gold rings should be interpreted literally.
If we continue with the medieval banqueting theme, then they are most likely to be common, or ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) which were introduced to England from China in the Middle Ages.
Pheasant is still a popular game bird eaten today and thanks to the colourful plumage of the cock, was served as a surprise dish, or subtlety, at medieval aristocratic banquets. It was also apparently the ideal food for the dainty stomachs of the young, the old, the ill, and the upper classes, but was thought to be bad for manual labourers who could only digest coarse food.
Another theory suggests that the gold rings are ‘goldspinks’, an old word for goldfinch. However, Mirth and Mischief includes an illustration that clearly depicts the rings as jewellery.
06
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me Six Geese-a-Laying
Goose has been on the menu for Christmas dating back to the ancient Greeks. During the Middle Ages it was also the centrepiece of the feast of Michaelmas on the 29th September celebrating the end of the harvest.
There is a legend that Queen Elizabeth I was dining on goose on the 29th of September when she received news of the destruction of the Spanish Armada and declared “Henceforth shall a goose commemorate this great victory!” therefore decreeing that goose should always be served at Michaelmas. However, the story is almost certainly apocryphal as a thanksgiving service had already taken place at St Paul’s Cathedral almost a month earlier.
The goose referred to in this verse is probably the greylag goose, (Anser anser), and the ancestor of all domesticated geese. It was a favourite bird at medieval feasts and in Magia Naturalis, a work of popular science published in 1558, there is a recipe for a goose which has its feathers plucked, is smeared in fat, and is then slowly roasted alive. The benefit of this incredibly barbaric method of cooking the bird is that it was meant to loosen and clean its insides to make it taste better.
07
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me Seven Swans-a-Swimming
In medieval times mute swans (Cygnus olor) were associated with nobility and were only eaten on special occasions, including Christmas. They were popular with royalty and forty swans were ordered for Henry III’s Christmas celebratory feast in 1247.
The meat of cygnets was served in pies while adult birds were roasted whole with the feathers and head removed. They were served re-dressed in their plumage and were sometimes gilded or had a lump of blazing incense placed in their beak to form a spectacular centrepiece at a banquet.
Despite its high price, swan meat isn’t particularly tasty – it’s said to taste like fishy mutton – and the meat is notoriously dry and tough. Medieval cooks would have to smother the bird in lard to make it edible.
Today unmarked mute swans are the property of the Crown and the only people allowed to eat them are the British Royal Family and the fellows of St John’s College Cambridge.
08
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me Eight Maids-a-Milking
This is where things get a little tricky, and our theory that all the verses represent birds consumed at medieval feasts falls down. The first bird that came to mind was the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), a small bird with yellow or greyish legs and a yellow beak. As their name suggests, cattle egrets often live near cattle as the animals’ hooves disturb invertebrate prey, making it easy for the birds to catch and eat. But although little egrets were eaten during the Middle Ages, cattle egrets only arrived in the UK in the last century which rules it out.
Another bird associated with milking is the nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus). Like many nocturnal species, nightjars were birds to be feared, and a superstition that goes back as far as Aristotle is that they sucked milk from domestic goats, which caused the animals to go blind. The superstition faded away long ago but gave rise to the nightjar’s colloquial name ‘goatsucker’ and the family name of the species, Caprimulgus, which is derived from the Latin capra meaning ‘nanny goat’ and mulgere, ‘to milk’.
However, as far as we can determine medieval people never tucked into nightjars at their spectacular feasts, so this remains a mystery verse. If anyone can shed light on what the eighth bird of Christmas could be, please let us know in the comments below.
09
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me Nine Ladies Dancing
We’re back on track with this one and have not one but two potential contenders for the gifts given on the ninth day.
Many birds perform dances particularly during courtship rituals and although regarded by some as black, sinister, and greedy, cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) have a distinctive bobbing stance when dancing which looks quite ladylike.
The crane (Grus grus) is another bird famous for its mating dance. Its long legs and neck give it a particular elegance as it points its head to the sky, flaps its wings, and bows and leaps in front of a potential partner.
Both birds were eaten during the Middle Ages. Cranes were hunted by falcons and hung by the neck to make the meat more tender. A recipe for crane involves roasting the bird on a skewer and serving with a sauce made from onion, saffron, bacon, and good wine, before cutting in pieces and serving on slices of bread. Cormorants were flambéd with lard and eaten with a little salt.
10
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me Ten Lords-a-Leaping
Grey herons (Ardea cinerea) are tall, with long legs, a long beak, and grey, black, and white feathering. To take flight a heron must leap into the air and when standing, hunched with their neck bent over their chest they look just like old men, so we think they make a good representation for the lords given on the tenth day of Christmas.
Like other wading birds and members of the stork family they were a popular food for medieval European nobility. Platina, the Italian gastronomist, warned that commoners should never get to eat these birds in case they developed a taste for them.
Part of the attraction was their sheer size, and, like swans, they had their skin and feathers removed before they were roasted and redressed to be served as the showpiece for a feast. Many of the accompanying sauces were highly spiced with cinnamon, galangal, and ginger and one wonders whether this was to disguise the taste of the meat which is supposed to be rather fishy.
A recipe for boiled heron pudding says that no bones should be broken during the preparation of the dish, as they contain a fishy fluid which mustn’t come into contact with the meat. Instead, it should be extracted, kept in the medicine cabinet, and applied to cuts and grazes.
11
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me Eleven Pipers Piping
The sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) makes a distinctive three-note piping-like cry as they take off. It is a smallish wader with contrasting brown upperparts and white underparts. It habitually bobs up and down, known as ‘teetering’, and has a distinctive flight with stiff, bowed wings.
Sandpipers were available to medieval cooks as were other members of their family including woodcocks, whimbrels, curlews, godwits, and snipes.
The birds were often roasted and then had their long beaks pushed through the carcass so people could hold on to them as they ate them, a bit like a kebab.
Another possibility is that the piper piping is a member of the Charadriidae family which includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings. These birds have a call which sounds a little like a whistle and they were certainly on the menu during the Middle Ages. The meat was said to have a delicate flavour and be easy to digest. Lapwings’ eggs were an expensive delicacy in Victorian Europe and golden plover on toast was included at the first meal on the Titanic.
12
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me Twelve Drummers Drumming
The first bird that comes to mind when we think of a drumming bird is the great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), who announces its presence with its loud call and distinctive spring ‘drumming’ display.
But this is problematic as, despite people’s fondness during the medieval era for rather more ‘exotic’ game, we can’t find any evidence that woodpeckers were eaten.
Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), on the other hand, we know were eaten during the period and it makes a drumming sound as part of its courtship display. The sound is produced by vibrations in the tail feathers when the birds flies downwards in a swooping motion.
Like many small gamebirds, snipe were not drawn before they were cooked and eaten. This meant that the innards of the bird were scooped out and spread on a piece of bread to accompany the rest of the meat.
If this sounds disgusting, there is apparently no need to worry, as snipes always empty their bowels upon taking flight which means the intestinal tract is empty, and the guts are supposed to taste delicious like a delicate pâté.
Shooting snipe takes a great deal of expertise due to the way they zig-zag as they fly, and the difficulties involved gave rise to the military term sniper.
Snipe is still eaten today and Winston Churchill is said to have demanded a brace of snipe washed down with a pint of port for breakfast on a transatlantic flight to cure his hangover.
22 Responses
Really good.
Apparently pigeons produce milk to feed their young for the first two weeks. So young pigeons are milking their parents; and pigeons are eaten by humans.
What a fun “history ” of the song! I’ve seen some debunkers, but the birds make MUCH more sense !
Magpies colors resemble a maids uniform
Maids didn’t wear that sort of uniform in until the Victorian era.
My Brothers vote for maids a milking is the “Great Tit Bird”. Careful how you look it up as you could find other things, but the bird does exist. Lol
Really enjoyed this….never knew about the other birds of the song. As always, the milkmaids/drummers/lords a leaping were always represented in human form. What a great find this was. I was researching the song for another project and this popped up.
I have been told the Eight maids a milking are magpies. They have milky white chests and look like they are in a black and white maid uniform with a apron on.
Wow! This is one of the most fun things I’ve read this Christmas. I’ve always wondered about the meaning behind this Christmas carol and it makes sense it’s all about eating birds. Like one of the comments says above I wonder if this is the origin of the bird in a bird in a bird. Happy Christmas Birdspot.
I know there are grouse in Scotland – aren’t there any further south in the British Isles?
This is so fascinating!!! I had no idea the song is all about birds!!!!!
I have made the remark that this was such a crazy song, and one of my friends husband looked it up and gave us this information. I was astonished to know that this was all birds, I read this all the way through, and I still think this is such a crazy song! Oh well a lot more crazy songs in these days. Thank you for explaining it though.
My vote for the “milking” birds would be squab, a common delicacy – young pigeons raised (like all pigeons) not on insects or the like but on crop milk, lac gallinaceum (“henʼs milk” in Latin).
That’s a great suggestion – thank you.
Agree! It is unlikely to be flamingoes or Emperor penguins (the other “milking” birds). 😉
I wonder if this is the origin of the turducken? Which is a chicken in a duck in a turkey.
Sorry – meant to reply to you Andrew Davies
I found something called the Roast Without Equal which is a ‘bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting and a garden warbler.’
This sounds similar to the cooked birds you are describing above. I wonder if the missing bird at number 8 is any of the birds above?
Look at all those birds!
Great, thanks! Since so many of the verses talk about birds, seems logical all might have been talking about birds that were served to folks in former times.
Lovely article… Thanks for the insight and taking us back to nature.
BTW… I think that perhaps the ruffed Grouse might make a really good drummer 😉
That would make sense, but this poem is British, and Ruffed Grouse only live in North America.