(NOTE: This series of blogs covers the twelve days of Christmas – Dec. 25th through Jan. 5th – and is based on the Christmas song, The Twelve Days of Christmas.)
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“On the fifth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me, five Golden Rings…”
The song, Twelve Days of Christmas, could have been titled, Twelve Fowls of Christmas. Through the first four days, birds have been used to symbolize Christian truths (partridge, doves, hens, ravens). The parade of birds continues on day five:
“On the fifth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me, five Golden Rings…”
Contrary to popular opinion, the five Gold Rings do not refer to jewelry, but to ring-necked pheasants, a favorite game bird and dinner feast of the day. (The use of fowls in the song will continue through day seven.)
What do the five ring-necked pheasants represent? The best guess is that they represent the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch or the Books of the Law or the Books of Moses. Those five books are (1) Genesis, (2) Exodus, (3) Leviticus, (4) Numbers, and (5) Deuteronomy. In these five books we learn the history of humanity’s sinful failure and God’s response of grace in the creation of a people (Israel) to be a light to the world. Continue reading
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