[scrabblehack]

Look in some very old English carol books and you will see "4 colly birds," not "4 calling birds." The word "colly," meaning "black," is not well known in America.

Check out:
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/12days.asp

[Wrangler22]

The snopes response was redictable. I appreciate the response though. Even if it is just a story, as a Catholic and a Christian, the parrallel to today's on going persecution of Christinity in this country is worth considering. Someday we may all be practicing our faith in secret if the Left has their way.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

Snopes itself is not a source, and their conclusions are often quite unfounded. There is an ongoing debate about the Christian (Catholic) origins of the song. A protestant minister has written a very thorough and fairly convincing argument in favor of this hypothesis:

HERE

For from being debunked, that the original intent of this song is at best indeterminate.