When most people hear of “The 12 Days of Christmas”, they think of the song. This song had its origins as a teaching tool designed to help young Christians learn their faith.

The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. The “true love” mentioned in the song refers to God. The “me” who receives the presents refers to every Christian. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ’s sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: “Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so…”

The other symbols mean the following:

• The “two turtle doves” were the Old and New Testaments – another gift from God.
• The “three French hens” were faith, hope and love – the three gifts of the Spirit that abide (I Corinthians 13).
• The “four calling birds” were the four Gospels which sing the song of salvation through Jesus Christ.
• The “five golden rings” were the first five books of the Bible also called the “Books of Moses”.
• The “six geese a-laying” were the six days of creation.
• The “seven swans a swimming” were the “seven gifts of the Holy Spirit”. (I Corinthians 12:8-11; Romans 12, Ephesians 4; I Peter 4:10-11).
• The “eight maids a milking” were the eight beatitudes.
• The “nine ladies dancing” were nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22 & 23)
• The “ten lords a-leaping” were the Ten Commandments.
• The “eleven pipers piping” were the eleven faithful disciples.
• And the “twelve drummers drumming” were the twelve points of the Apostles’ Creed.

So, the next time you hear “The 12 Days of Christmas”, consider how this otherwise non-religious sounding song had its origins in the Christian faith.

Recession gives true loves something to be happy about: PNC Christmas Index shows modest 1.8 percent increase

Thanks to the weak economy in 2009 the PNC Christmas Price Index increased by a modest 1.8 percent compared to last year in the whimsical economic analysis by PNC Wealth Management based on the prices of gifts in the holiday classic, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

According to the 26th annual survey, the price tag for the PNC CPI is $21,465.56 in 2009, just $385.46 more than last year. It is the smallest increase since 2002, when the index fell 7.6 percent.

The PNC CPI exceeds the U.S. government’s Consumer Price Index, the widely used measure of inflation calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is down 1.3 percent this year.

Among the 12 gifts in the Index, three items fell measurably from last year while five increased in cost and four remained steady.

As part of its annual tradition, PNC Wealth Management also tabulates the “True Cost of Christmas,” which is the total cost of items gifted by a True Love who repeats all of the song’s verses. This holiday season, very generous True Loves will receive a bargain and pay $87,402.81 for all 364 gifts, a mere 0.9 percent increase compared to last year.

The sharp rise in gold prices proved to be the main contributor to the dramatic 42.9 percent jump to $499.95 for the Five Gold Rings. Typically when the value of the dollar decreases, as it has in the last year, investors buy more gold driving up prices.

The cost of the Seven Swans-a-Swimming, which generally provide the biggest swings from year to year in the PNC CPI, fell this year by 6.3 percent to $5,250 following last year’s eye-opening 33.3 percent rise. As the most volatile item in the Index, the swans are removed to determine the underlying inflation or core PNC CPI, which pushed the rate up 4.8 percent this year. . . Read more.