A Partridge in the Au Pairs Tree (A Short Story) (12 Days of Christmas series Book 1)

Seven Swans a' Shooting: 12 Days of Christmas series

---

According to de Coussemaker, the song was recorded "in the part of [French] Flanders that borders on the Pas de Calais ". The exact origins and the meaning of the song are unknown, but it is highly probable that it originated from a children's memory and forfeit game. The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting with Christmas Day, or in some traditions, the day after Christmas 26 December Boxing Day or St. Stephen 's Day, as being the feast day of St. Twelfth Night is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking.

The best known English version was first printed in English in in a little book intended for children, Mirth without Mischief , as a Twelfth Night "memories-and-forfeits" game, in which a leader recited a verse, each of the players repeated the verse, the leader added another verse, and so on until one of the players made a mistake, with the player who erred having to pay a penalty, such as offering up a kiss or a sweet.

In the northern counties of England, the song was often called the "Ten Days of Christmas", as there were only ten gifts. It was also known in Somerset , Dorsetshire , and elsewhere in England. The kinds of gifts vary in a number of the versions, some of them becoming alliterative tongue-twisters.

There is evidence pointing to the North of England, specifically the area around Newcastle upon Tyne , as the origin of the carol. Husk, in the excerpt quoted below, stated that the carol was "found on broadsides printed at Newcastle at various periods during the last hundred and fifty years", i. In addition, many of the nineteenth century citations come from the Newcastle area. Halliwell , writing in , stated that "[e]ach child in succession repeats the gifts of the day, and forfeits for each mistake.

Salmon, writing from Newcastle, claimed in that the song "[had] been, up to within twenty years, extremely popular as a schoolboy's Christmas chant". Husk, writing in , stated: This piece is found on broadsides printed at Newcastle at various periods during the last hundred and fifty years.

On one of these sheets, nearly a century old, it is entitled "An Old English Carol," but it can scarcely be said to fall within that description of composition, being rather fitted for use in playing the game of "Forfeits," to which purpose it was commonly applied in the metropolis upwards of forty years since. The practice was for one person in the company to recite the first three lines; a second, the four following; and so on; the person who failed in repeating her portion correctly being subjected to some trifling forfeit.

Thomas Hughes , in a short story published in , described a fictional game of Forfeits involving the song: So the party sat down round Mabel on benches brought out from under the table, and Mabel began, The second day of Christmas my true love sent to me two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree;. The third day of Christmas my true love sent to me three fat hens, two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree;. The fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me four ducks quacking, three fat hens, two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree;.

The fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me five hares running, four ducks quacking, three fat hens, two turtle-doves, a partridge, and a pear-tree. Each day was taken up and repeated all round; and for every breakdown except by little Maggie, who struggled with desperately earnest round eyes to follow the rest correctly, but with very comical results , the player who made the slip was duly noted down by Mabel for a forfeit. Barnes , stated that the last verse "is to be said in one breath".

Scott , reminiscing about Christmas and New Year's celebrations in Newcastle around the year , described a performance thus: A lady begins it, generally an elderly lady, singing the first line in a high clear voice, the person sitting next takes up the second, the third follows, at first gently, but before twelfth day is reached the whole circle were joining in with stentorian noise and wonderful enjoyment.

Lady Gomme wrote in The party was usually a mixed gathering of juveniles and adults, mostly relatives, and before supper — that is, before eating mince pies and twelfth cake — this game and the cushion dance were played, and the forfeits consequent upon them always cried. The company were all seated round the room. The leader of the game commenced by saying the first line. This was continued until the lines for the "twelve days" were said by every player.

For every mistake a forfeit — a small article belonging to the person — had to be given up. These forfeits were afterwards "cried" in the usual way, and were not returned to the owner until they had been redeemed by the penalty inflicted being performed. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes , "Suggestions have been made that the gifts have significance, as representing the food or sport for each month of the year.

Importance [certainly has] long been attached to the Twelve Days, when, for instance, the weather on each day was carefully observed to see what it would be in the corresponding month of the coming year. Nevertheless, whatever the ultimate origin of the chant, it seems probable [that] the lines that survive today both in England and France are merely an irreligious travesty.

An anonymous "antiquarian", writing in , speculated that "pear-tree" is a corruption of French perdrix partridge , and "colley" a corruption of French collet ruff, hence "we at once have a bird with a ruff, i. Cecil Sharp , writing in , observed that "from the constancy in English, French, and Languedoc versions of the 'merry little partridge,' I suspect that 'pear-tree' is really perdrix Old French pertriz carried into England"; and "juniper tree" in some English versions may have been "joli perdrix," [pretty partridge].

Sharp also suggests the adjective "French" in "three French hens", probably simply means "foreign". According to Iona and Peter Opie , the red-legged or French partridge perches in trees more frequently than the native common or grey partridge and was not successfully introduced into England until about Baring-Gould suggests that the presents sent on the first seven days were all birds —the "five gold rings" were not actually gold rings, but refer to the five golden rings of the ringed pheasant. In , a Canadian hymnologist, Hugh D. McKellar, published an article, "How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas" in which he suggested that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" lyrics were intended as a catechism song to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practising Catholicism was criminalised in England until Three years later, in , Fr.

Hal Stockert wrote an article subsequently posted on-line in in which he suggested a similar possible use of the twelve gifts as part of a catechism. None of the enumerated items would distinguish Catholics from Protestants, and so would hardly need to be secretly encoded. English composer Frederic Austin fitted the words to a traditional melody, to which he added his own two-bar motif for "Five gold rings".

The time signature of this song is not constant, unlike most popular music. This irregular meter perhaps reflects the song's folk origin. The successive bars of three for the gifts surrounded by bars of four give the song its hallmark "hurried" quality. The second to fourth verses' melody is different from that of the fifth to twelfth verses. Before the fifth verse when "five gold en rings" is first sung , the melody, using solfege , is "sol re mi fa re" for the fourth to second items, and this same melody is thereafter sung for the twelfth to sixth items.

However, the melody for "four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves" changes from this point, differing from the way these lines were sung in the opening four verses. In the final verse, Austin inserted a flourish on the words "Five Gold Rings".

This has not been copied by later versions, which simply repeat the melody from the earlier verses. In the 19th century, most sources for the lyrics do not include music, and those that do often include music different from what has become the standard melody. Cecil Sharp's Folk Songs from Somerset contains two different melodies for the song, both distinct from the now-standard melody.

This melody for "The Twelve Days" was published in It was "collected by the late Mr. John Bell, of Gateshead, about eighty years ago" [i.

See a Problem?

This melody was current in "country villages in Wiltshire", according to an newspaper article. Since , the cumulative costs of the items mentioned in the song have been used as a tongue-in-cheek economic indicator. Assuming the gifts are repeated in full in each round of the song, then a total of items are delivered by the twelfth day. The former is an index of the current costs of one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

The latter is the cumulative cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased. The index has been criticised for not accurately reflecting the true cost of the gifts featured in the Christmas carol. Christmas carol — A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas, and which is traditionally sung on Christmas itself or during the surrounding holiday season.

Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the category of Christmas music. The first known Christmas hymns may be traced to 4th century Rome, Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism.

Corde natus ex Parentis by the Spanish poet Prudentius is still sung in churches today. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Christmas Sequence or Prose was introduced in Northern European monasteries, in the 12th century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol. In the 13th century, in France, Germany, and particularly, Italy, the songs we know specifically as carols were originally communal songs sung during celebrations like harvest tide as well as Christmas.

Nine Ladies Dancing: 12 Days of Christmas series

It was only later that carols begun to be sung in church, many carols which have gained popularity today were printed in Piae Cantiones, a collection of late medieval Latin songs which was first published in Adeste Fideles appears in its current form in the midth century, the origin of the tune is disputed. Carols gained in popularity after the Reformation in the countries where Protestant churches gained prominence and this was a consequence of the fact that the Lutheran reformation warmly welcomed music. The publication of Christmas music books in the 19th century helped to widen the appeal of carols.

The publication in of Christmas Carols, New and Old by Henry Ramsden Bramley, in , Charles Lewis Hutchins published Carols Old and Carols New, a scholarly collection which suffered from a short print run and is consequently rarely available today. The singing of carols was further popularised in the 20th century when OUP published one of the most popular books in the English-speaking world.

First published in and edited by David Willcocks and Reginald Jacques, today carols are regularly sung at Christian religious services. Some compositions have words that are not of a religious theme. For example, the 16th century song A Bone, God Wot. It is not clear whether the word derives from the French carole or the Latin carula meaning a circular dance. Composer — A composer is a person who creates or writes music, which can be vocal music, instrumental music or music which combines both instruments and voices.

Examples of composers who are well known for their ability as performers include J. In many popular genres, such as rock and country. For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers interpretations of the work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others, although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case.

A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st century, a culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composers written intention came to be highly valued. This musical culture is almost certainly related to the esteem in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers.

The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)

The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise. In Classical music, the composer typically orchestrates her own compositions, in some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music.

In the development of European classical music, the function of composing music initially did not have greater importance than that of performing it.

The preservation of individual compositions did not receive attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In as much as the role of the composer in western art music has seen continued solidification, for instance, in certain contexts the line between composer and performer, sound designer, arranger, producer, and other roles, can be quite blurred. The term composer is often used to refer to composers of music, such as those found in classical, jazz or other forms of art. In popular and folk music, the composer is usually called a songwriter and this is distinct from a 19th-century conception of instrumental composition, where the work was represented solely by a musical score to be interpreted by performers.

Frederic Austin — Frederic Austin was an English baritone singer, a musical teacher and composer in the period — The standard melody for the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas was published by Austin in and his arrangement of a traditional folk melody saw him add his own two-bar motif for Five gold rings. He also altered the lyric, adding on at the beginning of each verse, born Frederick William Austin in Poplar, Middlesex on 30 March the son of William and Elizabeth Austin, his father was a shirt tailor.

Austin was sent at the age of about 12 to live at Birkenhead, where he received organ and music lessons, by he had obtained a B. He became a teacher of harmony, and later of composition, at Liverpool he became close friends with the composer Cyril Scott, and through him was introduced to H. Balfour Gardiner, who became a lifelong friend. This group, in which Frederick Delius sometimes appeared, often performed each others music in informal surroundings, and Austin in particular used to improvise at the piano with Arnold Bax.

Henry Wood introduced Austins symphonic composition Rhapsody, Spring, and engaged him to sing in two concerts, including that in which Deliuss Piano Concerto in C minor was first given. At this Festival also on 6 October he gave the English premiere of Deliuss Sea Drift, Wood chose Austin as the only man who could be trusted to sing it con amore. Cumulative song — A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before.

Typically, the take the form of a stanza of at least two lines. In each verse, the text of the first line introduces a new item, the item is typically a new phrase to a line in a previous stanza. The two lines are separated by refrains. Many cumulative songs also have a chorus, for the first four verses, the additional gifts are all sung to a repeated standard melodic phrase.

In the fifth verse, a different melody, with a change of tempo, is introduced for the five gold rings, thence forward, the wording of each new gift is sung to the original standard melodic phrase before returning to the five gold rings. In many songs, an item is introduced in the first line of each stanza, an example is The Barley Mow, The second verse substitutes a larger drink measure in the first line.

In the second line the new measure heads the list and is sung to the musical phrase as pint pot. Yiddish folk music contains many prominent examples of songs, including. In most Western ecclesiastical traditions, Christmas Day is considered the First Day of Christmas, the Oriental Orthodox, other than the Armenians, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Eastern Catholics who follow the same traditions do have the interval of twelve days between the two feasts.

The period between Christmas and Epiphany is fast-free, during this period one celebration leads into another. Another of the prominent festivals that are included among the Twelve Great Feasts is that of the Circumcision of Christ on 1 January. The Eve of the Theophany on 5 January is a day of strict fasting and this day is known as Paramony, and follows the same general outline as Christmas Eve. That night the All-Night Vigil is served for the Feast of the Theophany, within the Twelve Days of Christmas, there are celebrations both secular and religious.

Get A Copy

It is a holiday in many nations, including some where the majority of the population is not Christian. On this see the articles on Christmas and Christmas traditions,26 December is St. Stephens Day, a feast day in the Western Church. In Great Britain and its colonies, it is also the secular holiday of Boxing Day. Sylvester I and is known also as Silvester. The transition that evening to the new year is an occasion for festivities in many nations. New Years Day on 1 January is an occasion for secular festivities or for rest from the celebrations of the night before.

In many nations, e. Christmastide — Christmastide, also known as Twelvetide, is a season of the liturgical year in most Christian churches. Customs of the Christmas season include carol singing, gift giving, seeing Nativity plays, attending church services, traditional examples of Christmas greetings include the Western Christian phrase Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. To which others respond, Glorify Him, Christmastide begins very early on 25 December.

Historically, the ending of Christmastide was 5 January, however, the ending is defined differently by some Christian denominations. Up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after 6 January, in , the Council of Tours proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast. The Council held at Tours also spoke of a three-day fast at the beginning of January as an ancient custom, in that canon, which dealt with the fasts to be observed by monks, the council decreed, De ieiuniis.

In Augusto, quia quotidie missae sanctorum sunt, prandium habeant, De Decembri usque ad natale Domini, omni die ieiunent. Et quia inter natale Domini et epiphania omni die festivitates sunt, excipitur triduum illud, quo ad calcandam gentilium consuetudinem, patres nostri statuerunt privatas in Kalendis Ianuarii fieri litanias. In medieval era Christendom, Christmastide lasted from the Nativity to the Purification, many Churches refer to the period after the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas and up to Candlemas, as Epiphanytide, also called the Epiphany season.

During the Christmas season, various festivities are traditionally enjoyed and buildings are adorned with Christmas decorations and these Christmas decorations include the Nativity Scene, Christmas tree, jingle bells, as well as various Christmas ornaments. In the Western Christian world, the two days on which Christmas decorations are removed are Twelfth Night and Candlemas. Any not removed on the first occasion should be left undisturbed until the second, leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas is considered to be inauspicious. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the start of Christmastide, it is customary for most households in Christendom to attend a service of worship or Mass, in which they receive Holy Communion.

The practice of giving gifts during Christmastide, according to Christian tradition, is symbolic of the presentation of the gifts by the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus. In the Anglian city of Oxford, many Christian families, after attending church, in several parts of the world, it is common to have a large family feast on Christmas Day, preceded with grace. Throughout the twelve days of Christmastide, many people view Nativity plays, in Russia, Christmastide, understood as the period between Orthodox Christmas and Epiphany, is often referred to as Svyatki. Christmas — In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family.

Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year.

Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.

Christmas is a form of Christs mass. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him.

In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after , when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day.

Partridge — Partridges are medium-sized non-migratory gamebirds, with a wide native distribution throughout the Old World, including Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. They are sometimes grouped in the Perdicinae subfamily of the Phasianidae and these are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails.

Partridges are native to the steppes of Europe, Asia, Africa. Nowadays they are found nesting on agricultural land. They nest on the ground and have a diet consisting of seeds, species such as the grey partridge and the red-legged partridge are popular as game birds, and are often reared in captivity and released for the purpose of hunting. Be the first to ask a question about Seven Swans a' Shooting. Lists with This Book. Dec 05, JoLene rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a short story that was published as a collection based on the 12 days of Christmas song.

This has all the familiar faces, Sophie, her sister Leah, Marcus and most importantly Anatoly hot Russian boyfriend. Leah is trying to break into the engagement planning business, but things go awry as they always do and she and Sophie end of being suspected of murder This is a short story that was published as a collection based on the 12 days of Christmas song. Leah is trying to break into the engagement planning business, but things go awry as they always do and she and Sophie end of being suspected of murder and stealing the engagement ring!

A Partridge in the Au Pair's Tree: 12 Days of Christmas series by Susan Donovan

This was a quick self-contained story. I'm not a fan of short stories, but since this had familiar faces and self-contained plot, I enjoyed it. Davis, the author, has seen some success in writing more steam "50 shades" stories, which aren't really my cup of tea, so I was happy to meet up with an "old friend". This is a quick, fun holiday mystery. I characters are great and the story line well written. I have not read anything by this author prior to this short story and will be looking for more of her books to read.

Mar 12, Jeanette montgomery rated it really liked it. First time reading this author and it is a quick easy read with a lovely story. I love all the characters. Oct 27, Lynn Smith rated it really liked it. A fun and quick read. Jun 26, Nicole rated it really liked it. This book made me miss Sophie. Dec 07, Keshia Swan rated it really liked it.

Quick and fun holiday mystery. Dec 14, Christina rated it it was amazing Shelves: Quick easy read and finished it in no time. Hope to have more short stories and books with these characters. Glad I have an ereader so I wouldn't have to miss this story. I love Sophie and the gang and it was great fun catching up with them.

Stacey Mackenna rated it liked it Dec 19, Jamie rated it really liked it Jun 03, Jenny Smith rated it really liked it Dec 23, MaryRhonda rated it really liked it Jul 26, Tonya Peterson rated it it was amazing Mar 09,

• Problems of Evil and the Power of God (Ashgate Philosophy of Religion Series)
• The Darkest Heart: The Void and the Flame
• Haunted Iowa: The Haunted Locations of Des Moines, West Des Moines, Ames, Ankeny and Urbandale
• Changing Ideas
• How Are Things In Glocca Morra
• Wicker Weave
• Gimme the Acorns . . . or Else!