The Twelve Days of Christmas Lyrics
A counting song that grows longer every verse: twelve gifts from a true love, from a partridge in a pear tree to twelve lords a-leaping. Added up, the gifts in all twelve verses come to 364. Children have long played it as a memory game.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The first day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree.
The second day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Two turtle doves and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The third day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The fourth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The fifth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The sixth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Six geese a laying,
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The seventh day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Seven swans a swimming,
Six geese a laying,
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The eighth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Eight maids a milking,
Seven swans a swimming,
Six geese a laying,
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The ninth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Nine drummers drumming,
Eight maids a milking,
Seven swans a swimming,
Six geese a laying,
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The tenth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Ten pipers piping,
Nine drummers drumming,
Eight maids a milking,
Seven swans a swimming,
Six geese a laying,
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The eleventh day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Eleven ladies dancing,
Ten pipers piping,
Nine drummers drumming,
Eight maids a milking,
Seven swans a swimming,
Six geese a laying,
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
The twelfth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Twelve lords a leaping,
Eleven ladies dancing,
Ten pipers piping,
Nine drummers drumming,
Eight maids a milking,
Seven swans a swimming,
Six geese a laying,
Five gold rings,
Four colly birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves, and
A partridge in a pear tree.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-twelve-days-of-christmas/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Tune
- Sung or chanted, adding one more gift each day and always finishing on the partridge
- Best for ages
- 4 to 12 years
What Does The Twelve Days of Christmas Mean?
Each verse starts with the day and the same line, "My true love sent to me", then lists that day's gift on top of all the earlier ones. The list is the whole point: on day three you have to keep three French hens, two turtle doves and the partridge in your head, and by day twelve there are twelve gifts to remember.
Some words are old. Colly birds are blackbirds: colly means black as coal, and many singers today say "calling birds" instead. French hens are hens from France. A-laying, a-swimming, a-milking and a-leaping use the old "a-" that means "busy doing". The maids are girls milking cows, the pipers play pipes, and the lords and ladies are people of high rank who are dancing and leaping.
The numbers work out like this: the partridge is sent twelve times, the two turtle doves eleven times, and so on down to the twelve lords, sent once. All the gifts come to 364, which is one more fact for a child who likes sums. The twelve days here are the twelve days that start at Christmas.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed this version in his collection The Nursery Rhymes of England. The collection's own note says each child in turn repeats the gifts of the day, and pays a forfeit for each mistake. A forfeit is a small object handed over and earned back later by doing something silly.
Alice Bertha Gomme, in The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (volume 2, 1898), describes the same game. Every player in turn says the lines for the first day, then the leader adds the second day and it goes round again, until every player has said all twelve days. The earliest printing known is in a children's book of about 1780, Mirth Without Mischief, as part of a game of this kind.
Learning Activities
- Memory circle: play it as the old game does. Sit in a ring, add one gift per round, and hand over a button for each mistake and win it back at the end by doing a silly action.
- Draw a day: give each child one day to illustrate, then put the twelve pictures in order on the wall.
- Count the doves: work out how many turtle doves were sent in all (eleven times two is twenty-two) and check with counters.
- Actions for gifts: agree one small movement for each gift, such as flapping for the geese and tapping for the drummers, and repeat the verse with all of them.