The
Twelve Days of Christmas
-
an alternative celebration -
Day
1:
20/21 December - Mother Night & the Winter Solstice
On
the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a
pear tree...
The
Old Norse festival of Modranicht, Mother Night, was held in honour
not only of the goddesses Frigg and Freya, but also of motherhood
and of our female ancestors. As a pre-Christian festival celebrated
on the eve of the Winter Solstice, Modranicht marked the beginning of
the twelve night Yule/Jól
cycle - the term
Yule/Jól
being believed by some etymologists to be derived from the ancient
Norse word for wheel, signifying the turning of the “wheel of the
year". The festival
was later incorporated into Christian practice as "the Twelve
Days of Christmas" and therefore came to be celebrated on what
is now Christmas Eve, 24th December.
This
first night of Yule is a good time to reflect on the Mother, spoken
of cryptically in the medieval carol as 'the pear tree': she who
gives birth to the Light of the World, who-ever or what-ever you
conceive that to be, For some, it is Jesus, the 'partridge in the
pear tree'.
We
can also bring to mind the 'cosmic womb' from which the universe came
into being, and consider the creative tension of opposites - dark and
light, chaos and order, masculine and feminine, void and form - all
of which are necessary to create life and sustain balance.
From
the title given to this eve, Mother Night (often translated as
Mother's Night, which is different) I wonder: is Night also our
Mother?
Praise
Song for My Mother
You
were
water
to me
deep
and bold and fathoming.
You
were
moon’s
eye to me
pull
and grained and mantling.
You
were
sunrise
to me
rise
and warm and streaming.
You
were
the
fishes red gill to me
the
flame tree’s spread to me
the
crab’s leg/the fried plantain smell
replenishing
replenishing.
Go
to your wide futures, you said.
Grace
Nichols (1950-)
In
some traditions, different goddesses and stars are honoured on this
night, as representations of the divine feminine. They include Rhea,
Juno, Nut, Callisto, Cassiopeia, Ariadne, the Pleiades (Alcyone,
Maia, Electra, Taygeta, Celaeno, Asterope, and Merope), Astraea,
Sothis, and Andromeda.
The
Winter Solstice itself has been observed by people across the world
for thousands of years. It is the
shortest day of the year, after which the days grow increasingly
longer and lighter, and it was celebrated by the ritual lighting of
fires, by feasting, by cleansing and purifying rituals, and by
chanting and singing to encourage the return of the Sun.
For
me, as for the people of various ancient cultures, the 'day' begins
the evening before, so at around 18.00 on the evening of 20th, I
shall be lighting a night-light, and leaving it to burn down
overnight, signifying for me the crucial balance of light and dark,
and also representing the lights of the sun, moon, and stars.
A
possible carol for this night is the one below, which makes sense for
me, as nothing else does, of my attempts to honour my Christian
heritage.
Every
star shall sing a carol , every creature high or low.
Come
and praise the King of Heaven by whatever name you know.
God
above, man below, Holy is the name I know.
When
the King of all creation had a cradle on the earth
Holy
was the human body, Holy was the human birth.
God
above, man below, Holy is the name I know.
Who
can tell what other cradle, high above the Milky Way,
still
may rock the King of Heaven on another Christmas Day?
God
above, man below, Holy is the name I know.
Who
can count how many crosses, still to come or long ago,
crucify
the King of Heaven? Holy is the name I know.
God
above, man below, Holy is the name I know.
Who
can tell what other body he will hallow for his own?
I
will praise the son of Mary, brother of my blood and bone.
God
above, man below, Holy is the name I know.
Every
star and every planet, every creature high and low,
come
and praise the King of Heaven by whatever name you know.
God
above, man below, Holy is the name I know.
Sydney
Carter
Day
Two:
21/22 December
On
the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two turtle
doves...
The
dove has long been a symbol of the Goddess, the feminine aspect of
the Divine, in Christian, Judaic, Greek, and Celtic practices. Today
is an opportunity to honour both Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary
Magdalene, his companion. I shall be lighting two night-lights, again
around 18.00 on the evening of 21st. And here are two of my own
poems, written earlier this year, but appropriate for today.
Magrat's
Poem of the Magdalene
Who
are you, Dark Lady of the gospels, you and the other women,
providing
for the Lord as he roams throughout the Galilee...
Why
are you, Dark Priestess with a jar of nard,
kneeling
to anoint the Bridegroom's feet,
preparing
Him for death, for rising, as you follow to Jerusalem...
When
are you, Dark Sorrow, watching as Love dies, then and now
you
bring your spice of solace, sitting shiva with the other Mary at our
tomb...
Where
are you, Dark Mystery who disappears; running to tell the others,
you
leave us in a garden with angels at our side...
What
are you, Dark Secret of church history: recovering demoniac,
repentant
lady of the night, for ages wholly side-lined - or the Holy Grail...
How
are we to find you, beautiful black Magdalene,
Wisdom
for our folly, Sister, Mother, Child,
shining
through our Darkness...
(c)
ZL. 2018
The
Selection Panel
Then
God said: Let us make humankind in our image,
according
to our likeness... So God created humankind,
in
the image of God, male and female...
We
have come a long way since then;
we
have travelled from the far south, into the valleys;
we
have collected possessions, we have walked upright,
we
have gained - Wisdom?
Is
it Wisdom that lays waste to the land?
Is
it Wisdom that scatters our common humanity?
Is
it Wisdom that wants things and things and things?
No:
for this is all folly, the folly of beautiful matter
that
cannot transcend but only fragment,
that
blinds us to the light of Anima Mundi.
Dark
Goddess, Mokosha, Mother,
lead
us to live up to our name,
and
to turn from Metis;
lead
us from the unreal to the real,
lead
us from darkness to light,
lead
us from death to immortality,
that
we may taste and see your grace and glory.
(c)
ZL. 2018
Day
Three:
22/23 December
On
the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me three French
hens...
It
has been said that, according
to letters written between priests during the 1500’s, the
persecuted Cathars related the 'Three French Hens' to the three
theological virtues, Faith, Hope & Charity, who, traditionally,
were the daughters of Sophia, goddess of Wisdom. 'Charity' is now
often translated as Love. Our word 'charity' derives from the
Proto-Indo-European root ka-,
meaning to like or desire, which in Latin became caritas,
interpreted as meaning a costly affection - and hence the concept of
charity as compassionate care or benevolence - literally
well-wishing.
The
Cathars did not call themselves Cathars, but rather
Bons
Hommes
and Bonnes
Femmes
- 'good men' and 'good women'. The term Cathar, ascribed to them by
others, derives from the Greek word katharoi,
meaning the pure ones, and is related to catharsis,
the Greek practice of emotional release and purification.
The
first of my three candles today will be for the Cathars who were
ruthless pursued and slaughtered by Church and State; the second will
be for catharsis, especially for the release of fear, and the third
will be for the blessings of the virtues of faith, hope and charity.
Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity,
I
am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And
though I have the gift of prophecy,
and
understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;
and
though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have
not charity,
I am
nothing.
And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and
though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity,
it
profiteth me nothing.
Charity
suffereth long, and is kind;
charity
envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,
is not
puffed up,doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh
not her own,is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
beareth
all things,believeth all things,
hopeth
all things,endureth all things.
Charity
never faileth:
but
whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;
whether
there be tongues, they shall cease;
whether
there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we
know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But
when that which is perfect is come,
then
that which is in part shall be done away.
When I
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child:
but
when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:
now I
know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And
now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;
but
the greatest of these is charity.
I
Corinthians 13.1-13 AKJV
Day
Four: 23/24 December
On
the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me four colly
birds...
What,
you may ask, is a colly bird? Not, as often given, ''calling' birds.
No, colly is an old English dialect word meaning black, and came from
the word for coal. So, four black birds, most likely actual
blackbirds - but hopefully not, like their four-and-twenty relatives,
baked in a pie! Blackbirds were considered to be sacred by both the
ancient Greeks and Celts, and, according to legend, three of them sit
and sing in the World Tree. Those who listen to their song fall into
a trance and are able to travel to the OtherWorld.
In
the Twelve Days carol, the four birds have been taken to represent
the four gospels and/or their authors, more usually represented by
the images of a human or angel (Matthew), a lion (Mark), an ox (Luke)
and an eagle (John), these being the 'four living creatures' that
surround the throne of God, according to Revelation 4.7.
As
today is our Christmas Eve, it's a good time to reflect on the 'old
old story' of how the divine becomes fully human in the person of
Jesus, who taught that God's kingdom is neither pie in the sky nor
jam tomorrow but HERE and NOW. It's a conjunction of heaven and
earth, of an other world and this world, of divine and human, of
eternity and time, of the spatial and the infinite.
So,
with Incarnation in mind, four lights: for the birds of the air, for
the fish of the sea, for the echidnas, dragons and phoenixes of the
fire, and for all creatures of the land, including we who are human.
On
the Mystery of the Incarnation
It's
when we face for a moment
the worst our kind can do, and shudder
to know
the taint in our own selves, that awe
cracks the mind's
shell and enters the heart:
not to a flower, not to a dolphin,
to
no innocent form
but to this creature vainly sure
it and no
other is god-like, God
(out of compassion for our ugly
failure
to evolve) entrusts,
as guest, as brother,
the Word.
Denise
Levertov
Day
Five: 24/25 December
On
the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me five gold
rings...
Who
wouldn't love to receive five gold rings in their Christmas stocking?
Sorry to disappoint, but the five gold rings in the carol aren't the
ones that go with the bells on your toes! Said by some to symbolise
the first five books of our Bible, which make up the Torah, there's
another suggestion as to what the five gold rings are: not
the rather weak idea that they symbolise the kingship of Jesus and/or
the marital relationship of God and the Church (in which case, why
five?!) but rather, in keeping with the previous four avian images,
that they are Ring-Necked Pheasants. Which may (does!) seem a rather
odd idea, but bear with me...
Pheasants
originated in Asia, and their symbolism has both positive and
negative aspects.
In
symbol systems, birds are nearly always defined as travellers, those
on spiritual paths, flying high, venturing into the ethereal realm,
and perhaps experiencing the music of the spheres. Pheasants neither
sing nor fly much, rather they squawk and strut about, admittedly
thus showing off their beautiful feathers, at least in the case of
the males, the females being less showy! And they nest on the ground,
not in trees. So, very much a symbol of the Earth, and of masculinity
- in China the pheasant is the symbol of noblemen. The pheasant is
also the national symbol of Japan, and thus an imperial symbol of
power, although also understood to be the messenger of Amaterasu
('Shining in Heaven'), the goddess of the Sun and the Universe, a
principle deity of Shintoism. Female pheasants were admired for
their camouflage which made them difficult to hunt, and they thus
became a symbol of protection and concealment.
So,
five gold pheasants? Maybe, if they are symbols of both nobility and
concealment. Use your imagination, and apply that to the Christmas
story - yes, it works!
But
while I was researching all this, I was interested to learn about the
meaning of wearing rings on particular fingers. It is said that the
thumb has to do with will power, independent thought and freedom, and
is symbolic of strength; the index finger has to do with authority
and ambition, and wearing a ring on this finger demonstrates
assertiveness; the middle finger being the tallest and the central
finger, has to do with our identity and purpose in life, and wearing
a ring on it can indicate a desire to be the centre of attention; the
fourth/ring finger is associated with feeling of love and affection,
as well as with creativity; and wearing a ring on the little finger
is a symbol of our bonds with, and attitude to, other people and the
material world.
Strength,
authority, purpose, love, and human bonding: appropriate for the five
Christmas Day candles? I think so.
Day
Six: 25/26 December
On
the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me six geese
a-laying...
Guess
what? Yes, more birds... But short and sweet today: eggs, the symbol
of life; six geese laying eggs, the symbol of the six days of
creation, according to the first of the creation myths recounted in
the book of Genesis. A candle for each day: day one - light (day)
divided from darkness (night); day two - the firmament of heaven
between the waters; day three - dry land, grass , herbs and trees;
day four - sun, moon, and stars; day five - creatures of the water
and the air; day six - creatures of the earth.
-
O
all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
ye Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
ye Heavens, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.
-
O
ye Waters that be above the Firmament, bless ye the Lord: praise
him, and magnify him for ever.
-
O
all ye Powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and
magnify him for ever.
-
O
ye Sun and Moon, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for
ever.
-
O
ye Stars of Heaven, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
ye Winds of God, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for
ever.
-
O
ye Fire and Heat, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for
ever.
-
O
ye Winter and Summer, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
ye Dews and Frosts, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for
ever.
-
O
ye Nights and Days, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
ye Light and Darkness, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
ye Lightnings and Clouds, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
let the Earth bless the Lord: yea, let it praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
all ye Green Things upon the Earth, bless ye the Lord: praise him,
and magnify him for ever.
-
O
ye Wells, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.
-
O
ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
ye Whales, and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord:
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
-
O
all ye Fowls of the Air, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
ye Children of Men, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
for ever.
-
O
let Israel bless the Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever.
-
O
ye Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
ye Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify
him for ever.
-
O
ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous, bless ye the Lord: praise
him, and magnify him for ever.
-
O
ye holy and humble Men of heart, bless ye the Lord: praise him, and
magnify him for ever.
-
Benedicite
1662.
Day
Seven: 26/27 December
On
the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me seven swans
a-swimming...
The
number seven is said to represent wholeness, completion, and
perfection. What do we have today? Seven swans a-swimming. Oh yes,
more birds, big, powerful ones, doing all that cliched paddling
beneath the surface while apparently serenely gliding along.
Symbolism? The seven gifts of the Spirit, which, as you know, are
Wisdom,
Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the
Lord.
Alternatively,
the swans are the seven sacraments (Baptism,
Communion, Confession, Confirmation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick,
and Holy Orders)
"sailing majestically
on the seas of grace".
I
like the phrase 'seas of grace', and it reminds me of Don Cupitt's
book, and the subsequent TV series, 'Sea of Faith', which gave rise
to the organisation of the same name, 'exploring and affirming
religious faith as a human creation... for this life' (sofn.org.uk).
Well, of course. Last year (2017) Don Cupitt last year said this:
"I
began in the Sixties as a revisionist Christian theologian, but I
seem to have ended trying to make the philosophy of life into a
respectable subject. Nobody has as yet quite been able to do this in
the English-speaking world. I seem to have moved from standard
Western Christian faith to an eclectic Christian philosophy of life."
The
title Sea of Faith comes from Matthew Arnold's poem 'Dover Beach':
The
sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon
the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the
cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil
bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the
long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched
land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the
waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high
strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous
cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Sophocles
long ago
Heard it on the Aegean, and it brought
Into his mind
the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the
sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The
Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's
shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I
only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating,
to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And
naked shingles of the world.
Ah,
love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To
lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so
new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor
certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a
darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and
flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
The
phrase 'the Seven Seas' used to simply mean all the oceans of the
world, including the Arctic, the Antarctic, the North and South
Pacifics, the North and South Atlantics, and the Indian Oceans. So at
18.00 I'll be lighting seven lights for those all seas, of faith and
of water, which swans and others paddle, swim, and fear to drown in -
and from which our forefathers came. And I shall be thinking of my
own father, who was born on this day 112 years ago.
Day
Eight: 27/28 December
On
the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me eight maids
a-milking...
At
last, no more birds... but it seems there must be cows, as today we
have eight maids milking them - or might they be goats? Either way I
certainly don't want their milk: just as milk for baby humans needs
to be human milk, so milk from animals is for baby animals, and not
for humans. Anything other than that is simply weird. So, what to do
with these eight maids and their small herd? Well, keeping up with
weird stuff, it actually has been suggested that this eighth day of
Christmas is not about cows, goats, or milking, but is about, yes,
you guessed it, more birds - magpies to be exact. But,
disappointingly and try as I might, I can't find out why, not even in
the article that suggests it, other than the connection between
magpies and fortune telling, as in the verse 'One for sorrow, Two for
mirth, Three for a wedding, Four for a birth, Five for silver, Six
for gold, Seven for a secret not to be told, Eight for heaven, Nine
for hell, and Ten for the devil's own sel.'
Fortune
telling and magpies aside, eight has been regarded as a special, even
a sacred, number, symbolising in the Middle Ages, for example, the
perfection of incoming planetary energy from the eight 'unmoving
stars'. In sacred geometry, eight is the octogon, the intermediate
between the circle of Heaven and the square of Earth, and, as double
four, it is the number of ascension above the material world through
the spiritual perspective. And from the eighth step of the musical
scale, the octave, eight is said to bring harmonic resonance and a
sense of fulfillment.
It
doesn't quite work out this year, but in
patristic writings, Sunday was known as 'the eighth day'. There is
some reasoning behind this which is, frankly, too mystical even for
me! But I do get that the idea behind it was that it was a day beyond
nature and time, and a glimpse of eternity. Traditionally babies were
named on the eighth day after their birth, and, from ancient times,
Christian baptistries and fonts have been octagonal, indicating the
way that the newly baptised, whether infant or adult, are entering
the realm of the Eight Day.
Oh,
and I almost forgot. In case you're wondering, the milkmaids are said
to represent the eight Beatitudes, so my eight candles this evening
will be for people who are low, depressed, anxious, fearful, people
who are grieving, people who are downtrodden, people who are seeking
righteousness, people who are merciful, people who are pure in heart,
people who are peace-makers, and people who are persecuted, for
whatever reason.
And
seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain:
and
when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
and
he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Blessed
are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed
are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed
are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
for
they shall be filled.
Blessed
are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed
are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed
are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake:
for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed
are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,
and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:
for
so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Matthew
5.1-12 AKJV
Day
Nine: 28/29 December
On
the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me nine ladies
dancing...
In
terms of the 'secret catechism' the nine ladies dancing represent the
nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, as described in Galatians 5.22-23:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self control. A good list of very desirable virtues.
To
the Teutonic and Celtic people, nine was a sacred number, being three
times three, and three represented the triple aspects of the goddess
as maiden, mother, and crone. This, below, was their Code of Nine,
inscriptions of which have been found at various places throughout
Scandinavia, and which date from at least 1,000 CE if not earlier,
and I shall light a candle for each of the nine parts of the code.
THE
CODE IS TO HONOUR
Honour
yourself with truth and fairness.
Your
word is your bond, give your word power by adhering to it.
Honour
your family and friends with reverence and respect.
Honour
your love and the way above all else.
Honour
is the mark of strength and nobility.
THE
CODE IS TO PROTECT
Protect
with savagery your blood and kin.
Let
no one or nothing violate your love or the way.
Let
there always be inequity in defence.
Always
protect thrice as fiercely as one is attacked.
Protection
is the mark of a warrior spirit.
THE
CODE IS TO FLOURISH
Prosperity
and growth are key to the survival of the way.
Such
is the mark of intelligence.
THE
CODE IS KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge
is power.
Seek
ever to expand the mind.
Never
stagnate, for knowledge is a gift from the Gods.
THE
CODE IS CHANGE
Adapting
and changing are important for growth and survival.
That
which cannot adapt or change is doomed to perish.
Change
is the mark of insight.
THE
CODE IS FAIRNESS
Pay
all debts, pull your own weight,
always
hear and consider all sides.
Treat
all others with equity and fairness.
Expect
the same.
THE
CODE IS BALANCE
Remember
the Law of Balance:
All
that which you do or wish for, good or ill,
shall
return to you one day.
Strive
for the good.
THE
CODE IS CONTROL
Never
lose control to anger or be baited by hostility.
Never
strike a woman unless your very life hangs in the balance.
Never
violate the weak or innocent.
Never
tolerate those who do.
Control
is the mark of a disciplined mind,
a
sign of the greatest of warriors.
THE
CODE IS CONFLICT
Those
who follow the way must know the art
of
combat, weapons, and vengeance.
War
is a part of the path.
Always
be prepared for hostility.
It
is a destiny woven into the fibres of our people.
Keep
body, mind, and training up at all times.
Have
no remorse in the savagery of conflict.
Win,
prevail, and survive.
Day
Ten: 29/30 December
On
the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ten lords
a-leaping...
Ten
for the Ten Commandments, what else; but doesn't that phrase remind
you of yet another obscure song: Green Grow the Rushes O? Here it is,
from the final verse:
-
I'll
sing you twelve, O
-
Green
grow the rushes, O
-
What
are your twelve, O?
-
Twelve
for the twelve Apostles
-
Eleven
for the eleven who went to heaven,
-
Ten
for the ten commandments,
-
Nine
for the nine bright shiners,
-
Eight
for the April Rainers,
-
Seven
for the seven stars in the sky,
-
and
Six for the six proud walkers,
-
Five
for the symbols at your door,
-
and
Four for the Gospel makers,
-
Three,
three, the rivals,
-
Two,
two, the lily-white boys,
-
Clothed
all in green, O
-
One
is one and all alone
-
And
evermore shall be so.
Some
of the meanings are clear. The twelve apostles are the inner circle
of Jesus' disciples, with eleven remaining after Judas' departure.
The ten commandments, yes, got them. The nine bright shiners?
Possibly the nine orders of angels, in ascending order, said to be
angels, archangels, principalities/rulers, powers/authorities,
virtues/strongholds, dominions/lordships, thrones, cherubim, and
seraphim. The April Rainers are the Hyades star cluster, known in
classical times as the 'rainy Hyades', which rise with the sun in
April and were believed to inaugurate the rains of that month. The
Seven Stars might be the Pleides or Ursa Major, or the seven
traditional planets, or the seven stars referred to in Revelation
(1.16) held in the right hand of Christ and representing the angels
of the seven early churches. The Six Proud Walkers might be either a
corruption of the word 'waters', referring to the six jars of water
that Jesus turned into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee,
or the six armed men of Ezekiel's vision (Ez. 9.2) - although I
always imagine them to be the sort of walkers who stride about in the
Lake District, wearing anoraks and bobble hats and wielding walking
sticks :-) The five symbols 'at your door' is most likely to be the
mezuzah which contained a section of the Torah - the first five books
of Moses. But it might be a reference to the symbols put up to
indicate a willingness to shelter Catholic priests during the
persecutions. Four explains itself - the authors to whom the
canonical gospels are attributed. Three, three the Rivals? Possibly a
reference to Peter, James and John, who disputed which was considered
to be the greatest. Or (there's almost always an 'or'!) it might be a
corruption of the word 'Wisers' meaning the three Magi of the
Nativity stories. The lily-white boys' may be Moses and Elijah, who
appeared in dazzling white at the transfiguration of Jesus... or...
they might be the statues of St. John and Our Lady, which
traditionally during Holy Week were wrapped in rushes... or... they
might be Adam and Eve. Bit of a problem with gender identity with
these latter two suggestions! And the final 'or' - they were druids.
In which case, why? And finally, One is one and all alone - it's poor
lonely old God.
No,
I don't think much of these interpretations either! And I won't bore
you any further with the variant forms of the song!!
So,
setting all that aside (phew), instead of lighting ten candles, I
shall light one (because ten is a one and a zero) for all those
people who, like God in the song, are all alone and don't want to be
so.
Day
Eleven: 30/31 December
On
the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me eleven pipers
piping...
Well,
as we can extrapolate from Green Grow the Rushes (Oh!), the eleven
pipers represent the eleven so-called 'faithful' disciples, that is,
all but Judas. I've always felt sad for Judas. I believe that, like
many of us, he did his best, but didn't, and probably couldn't, fully
understand what the consequences of his actions would be. According
to the stories, he then killed himself.
It is not for us to judge him or anyone else, but to pity and to
weep... and light twelve candles... and, come Easter, to put twelve
marzipan balls on the Simnel Cake.
When
I went out to kill myself, I caught
a pack of hoodlums beating up
a man.
Running to spare his suffering, I forgot
my name, my
number, how my day began,
how soldiers milled around the garden
stone
and sang amusing songs; how all that day
their javelins
measured crowds; how I alone
bargained the proper coins, and
slipped away.
Banished from heaven, I found this victim
beaten,
stripped kneed, and left to cry. Dropping my rope
aside,
I ran, ignored the uniforms:
then I remembered bread my flesh had
eaten,
the kiss that ate my flesh. Flayed without hope,
I
held the man for nothing in my arms.
James
Wright
Day
Twelve: 31 December/1 January
On
the twelvth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me twelve drummers
drumming...
The
twelve drummers are said to represent the 'twelve points' of the
Apostles' Creed:
I
believe in God the Father all-mighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I
believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He
was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin
Mary.
Under
Pontius Pilate, he was crucified, died, and was buried.
He
descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again.
He
ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He
will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I
believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church,
the
communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Exactly
how that's split into twelve is another of those mystical mysteries!
However, this day is both New Year's Eve and the last of these twelve
days, with a new twelve months ahead. I have twelve candles at the
ready, together with a piece of paper on which I've written twelve
changes I intend to make, one per month, over this next year; not
resolutions, which can and should be made at any time, but
intentions. And each month I shall light one of my twelve lights to
bring me into those changes. And here is my best-loved poem for a new
year, new month, new day:
New
Every Morning
Every day is a
new beginning,
Hearken my soul to the glad refrain.
And,
spite of old sorrows
And older sinning,
Troubles forecasted
And possible pain,
Take heart with the day and begin again.
Susan
Coolidge
Merry
Christmas - and warm wishes for a happy and blessed New Year.
