“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a Partridge in a Pear Tree.”
There are both religious and secular interpretations of the song and I will give you both when I have it. I will also share with you interesting customs from around the world associated with the particular day.
The Partridge in a Pear Tree is believed to represents the courage and devotion of Christ dying for his people. A mother partridge will lure predators away from her chicks, even sacrificing her life for them. The pear tree symbolizes the wooden cross upon which Jesus died.
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More interesting and surprising sexual interpretations?
One tradition for some on Twelfth Night is to go around wassailing fruit trees as a kind of fertility rite. Exactly how this is done had varied from century to century. But, in the 18th century (when the song was created) wassailing was done by pouring cider, honey, spices and pulp from a burst baked apple (all mixed in a bowl) around the trees. The term “Wassail” is taken from the waes hael meaning “be whole” (aka be in good health).
Another folklore claims that a young maiden was suppose to walk backwards around a pear tree three times on Christmas morning. Then she gazes into the branches. She should see the image of her future husband.
Fertility and sexuality have often been represented by fruits for centuries. The apple represents the female (perhaps going all the way back to the Garden of Eden?). The pear is supposed to represent the male. The male partridge is also well-known for being a lusty suitor, very fertile, and producing a lot of off-spring. (Along the same lines as the rabbit does today.) Therefore, the “partridge in a pear tree” symbolizes to some a very suggestive sexual symbolism!
In England, the red-legged partridge was commonly known to sit in pear trees. This bird was not introduced to England from France until the late 1770′s. Since the verse is earlier than that time, this is why many believe the song originates from France.
Adding spice to your life,
Lia
