On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 5 Golden Rings. First of all, the "Rings" are not jewelry one wears on their hand, rather it refers to the yellow bands around the necks of Gold Finches. Then there are some who speculate the "gold rings" refer to the rings around the necks of pheasants. Whatever, they are not 14 karat.
Contrary to what we all were brought up to believe, it is not fowl nor jewelry, rather the Pentateuchthe - the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These are also seen as the history of the man's fall from grace.
All that aside, now that we have a partridge, a pear tree, turtle doves, hens, collie birds, and gold finches (or pheasants), the references have taken a dark turn. So much for the joyous carol about holiday dancers, swans, and dairy maidens. So now we have gone from caroling about Faith, Hope and Charity to references to the fall of man
In reality, I doubt many of us, on the fifth day, even the Catholics, Anglicans, and Episcopalians, are truly worried about the references to books in the Bible and man's fall from grace. There are more pressing things. Where did Aunt Matilda find that purple vase with the etchings of fighting bulls on it? In all fairness, I could not re-gift that to my worst enemy. There is also the ultimate quandary - do we smugly eat all the rich chocolate we received or give it away to save ourselves from the guilt of doing so. On a more serious note, I was sorely disappointed that I awoke on Boxing Day to find that the fairies did not take down my Christmas Tree and, alas, the task is left to me.
