“...and a beer, in a pear tree!”
No, no. “A cartridge in a pear tree” refers to ammo.
The Eight Polish Foods of Christmas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa-mHc51SJo
I like the religious explanation better, where each item is a part of Christian faith.
My dad sings it as 5 tubeless tires, 4 qts of gin, 3 cigars...some hair tonic. I forget the rest.
On the fifth day of truce time, old Ho Chi gave to me:
Five mortar rounds
Four Viet Cong
Three Chinese
Two booby traps
And a sniper in a palm tree.
Several years ago, a radio personality tried to calculate the cash value of all of the gifts. I believe they amounted to about half a million dollars. The most expensive gifts would have been the ladies, lords, pipers and drummers. Being union members, they would have cost beaucoup bucks.
Pairing the magpies with the number eight offers a significant reminder to leave the old behind and start fresh. This meaning seems to be the most logical because the eighth day of Christmas falls on New Year's Day.
I gotta tell you, it may be weak and not based on any solid history, but I like this explanation.
"Milk is approximately 87 percent water and 13 percent solids." (Univ of MD)
The Paradox of 8, because everyone can use a second opinion:
The number eight, however, is the power of holiness that is greater than nature. When we encounter the number eight in the Torah, the Torah is alerting us that the topic we are discussing is one that transcends the natural expectation. It is the power of infinity.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/4704982/jewish/The-Paradox-of-Eight.htm
They milked it for all it was worth, so it's really the simple meaning. New Years, fresh wholesome milk.
Hebrew: chalav (milk) is a word play on ha-lev, "the heart".
~ EZ
Of course I could go on, specifically in how this breaks down with the 12 days of the song, as the sum of 1 thru 12 = 78, being 12 and 66.
1266, but who really cares to know what that means??
Oh but there's so much more, because the gifts themselves are packaged in multiples:
If we add all these together, we end up with an impressive 78 gifts. But, we can’t just add the numbers to get the total number of gifts. Remember that this is a cumulative song, so they don’t just get a partridge in a pear tree on the first day. They get one on all twelve days, two turtle doves for each of the next 11 days, and so on!That's 286 gifts beyond their lines, thereby transcending the natural expectation.So, to find the real answer, we need to do some more maths:
>>>
Add that all together, and we find that the singer gets a shocking total of 364 gifts.
https://www.twinkl.com/teaching-wiki/twelve-days-of-christmas
I could go on, and on, and on... ∞
Someone really should animate poor dead-on-the-ground infinity, because then it would be able to keep on turning, like an hourglass. 🤓
The sages say that Purim is forever.
Makes sense -- Purim got its name from Pur [פור]; i.e. from 286.
And not a turkey among them!
Whenever I hear that song, my brain goes to the Twelve Days of Clinton. I can’t remember what 12 was, but
Eleven Billion for Boris
at-TEN-tion to the deficit
Nein to German competitors
Eight (Aid) to Somalia
Seven days a week of health care
Six percent loans for students
Five folding wings (of the Air Force)
Four balanced budgets
Three percent loans for students
Two more million jobs
and a tax cut for you and for me.
How do you sing with all those feathers flying around?
We try not to inhale.
-Stan Freberg
Pass the bucket of fried chicken.
If they were all birds then wouldnt 12 drummers be grouse?
Not only do grouse sit on logs and drum like the inhabitants of the next island over from Gilligan but its well known that its the only bird capable of out performing John Bonham.