Few Christmas songs are as well known, well loved, or more often sung than The Twelve Days of Christmas. From the partridge in the pear tree to the twelve lords a-leaping, we know all the verses. What we don't know, however, are the origins or meanings of these twelve seemingly simple thymes. We don't know, for example, why the Three French Hens are "French"; we don't know that the Four Calling Birds are really "colly" birds; we don't know that the Nine Drummers Drumming were the so-called "waits"—the night watchmen of old England. We don't even know that The Twelve Days of Christmas was also a game once played at family celebrations on Twelfth Night.

All these things and more are brought to light in this charming book. Illustrator Leigh Grant has traced the history of the Christmas celebrations evoked in the song all the way back to their ancient and medieval roots. She focuses, however, on the eighteenth-century references in the verses—largely English, with some French antecedents. Her richly detailed paintings (one shows the festivities surrounding the serving of the traditional Twelfth Night cake) visualize each verse in period costume, decor, and style. Accompanying the paintings are brief riddle-rhymes by the artist that hint at the other meanings of the verses and the scenes depicted. Following are delightful texts that explain the old traditions of year-end celebrations, some of them dating back to Greek and Roman times. Each text illuminates the meanings of the symbols and allusions in the paintings and in the song's verses.

Together, the illustrations and these stories make The Twelve Days of Christmas, sung by families and friends for more than two centuries, come newly alive. Richness and color are added to the delight of this traditional Yuletide favorite, now freshly understood to be enjoyed all the more.

From the dust jacket