The
History of the Christmas Carol
What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans,
and especially that partridge who won't come out of the pear
tree have to do with Christmas?
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not
allowed to practice their faith openly.? Someone during that era
wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.? It
has two levels of meaning; the surface meaning, plus a hidden
meaning known only to members of their church.? Each element in
the carol has a code word for a religious reality, which the
children could remember.
- The partridge in a pear tree
was Jesus Christ.
- Two turtle doves were the
Old and New Testaments.
- Three French hens stood for
faith, hope and love.
- The four calling birds were
the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
- The Five golden rings
recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old
Testament.
- The six geese a-laying stood
for the six days of creation.
- Seven swans a-swimming
represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit:
Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution,
Leadership, and Mercy.
- The eight maids a-milking
were the eight beatitudes.
- Nine ladies dancing were the
nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience,
Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and
Self-control.
- The ten lords a-leaping were
the Ten Commandments.
- Eleven pipers piping stood
for the eleven faithful disciples.
- Twelve drummers drumming
symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles'
Creed.
So there is your history lesson
for today and now you know how that strange song became a
Christmas Carol!
Submitted by Tom,
Gettysburg, Pa.
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The church gossip and
self-appointed arbiter of the church's morals ...
kept sticking her nose into
other people's business. Several church members were
unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to
maintain their silence.
She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new
member, of being drunk after she saw his pickup truck parked in
front of the town's only bar one afternoon. She commented to
George and others that everyone seeing it there would know what he
was doing.
George, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just
walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny; he said nothing.
Later that evening, George quietly parked his pickup in front of
her house ... and left it there all night.
Submitted by Andy,
Gettysburg, Pa.
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Here are some actual error
messages seen on the computer screens in Japan ...
...
some are even written as Haiku. Aren't these better than "Your
computer has performed an illegal operation"?
- The Web site you seek cannot be
located, but countless more exist.
- Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent,
and reboot. Order shall return.
- Program aborting: Close all that you
have worked on. You ask far too much.
- Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue
Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.
- Yesterday it worked. Today it is not
working. Windows is like that.
- Your file was so big. It might be very
useful. But now it is gone.
- Stay the patient course. Of little
worth is your ire. The network is down.
- A crash reduces your expensive computer
to a simple stone.
- Three things are certain: Death, taxes
and lost data. Guess which has occurred?
- You step in the stream, but the water
has moved on. This page is not here.
- Out of memory. We wish to hold the
whole sky, But we never will.
- Serious error. All shortcuts have
disappeared.
And ...
- Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
must now be retyped.
Submitted by Tom, Fairfield,
Pa.
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Dec
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