I found this list online and found it interesting.
Religious symbolism of The Twelve Days of Christmas.
1 True Love refers to God
2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping refers to the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed
Here's a site with interesting information about the liturgical history of the Twelve Days of Christmas.
And yet another take on this from an e-mail I received from a listener in Wenatchee.
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.
For a refutation of the above check out Snopes.com.
I decided to you tube (is this an official verb yet?) the song. As you might expect there were a lot of choices. Here a couple that I couldn't resist.
A silly one.....
Warning: Contains chipmunk voices!!!!!
