Recorded/arranged and performed by Shenzo for the southbank fireworks show 18 Dec 2009. The earliest well-known performance of the song was by English scholar James O. Halliwell in 1842, and he published a version in 4th edition The Nursery Rhymes of England (1846), collected principally from 'oral tradition'.[3] The song had become traditional as early as the 16th century. The twelve days in the song are the twelve days from the day after Christmas (December 26) (Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day, as being the feast day of St. Stephen Protomartyr) to the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6, or the Twelfth Day). Twelfth Night is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking.The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a cumulative song, meaning that each verse is built on top of the previous verses. There are twelve verses, each describing a gift given by "my true love" on one of the twelve days of Christmas. The first verse runs: On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree The second verse: On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree The third verse begins to show some metrical variance, as explained below: On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me Three French hens two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear ...
