Four Calling Birds...

....three French hens....

Now that you have the partridges and turtle doves flying around the house, we are going to add some more birds to the mix.  I must admit, this makes for a full house of birds and we are only 4 days into this carol.  Pretty soon we are going to have geese laying eggs, but at least we will have some people around to manage all of these animals!

In my reading, the three French hens have a double meaning.


One source states that the hens represent the gifts given to Jesus...gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Another source states that these birds represent faith, hope and love.  I will let you make the decision.

About those calling birds....the term "calling" is actually incorrect.


Calling is the Americanization of the English word "colly", which means black and actually refers to the European blackbird.  The four colly birds represent the four gospels...Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

I know space is getting a little crowded with all of these birds, but we do have a tree in which they can hang.

Happy Fourth Day of Christmas!


16 comments

  1. It just keeps getting more and more interesting.....!

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    1. I’m so glad you are enjoying it! It definitely gives a different spin on the song! :-) Hugs!

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  2. I love little facts like these! I always thought the birds looked like doves and they coo to one anther as they mate for life and each 'coo' is personal! :) Just my thought! Ha!

    I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, Benita. I wish I were a bear---no scratch that. An opossum maybe, and could just go hibernate till spring! I have a few more busy weeks but for now I'm just relaxing and trying not to make a big deal out of the small things. We put so much pressure on ourselves and this year, well, I buried myself in endless multi tasking as a way to deal with some painful issues. Next year I will pace myself. That's the good thing about having a blog. You can go back and look at all the crazy darn things you did the year before and scratch them off your To Do List! lol!

    Love to you, pretty lady,

    Jane x

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    1. See, I think like that too...I imagine their entire life with their little ones and all kinds of fun things...LOL

      We had a great Christmas and I'm so glad that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas as well. It seems that the holidays always end up pressuring us more than we ever wanted them to and we end up caving in to the whims of the season. I keep telling myself every year that I will start my Christmas shopping in January and not let it get the best of me, but that never happens. Relaxing this time of year is the best thing for sure and we have been trying to do some of that as well. And yes, the "to do" list....I may burn mine as part of my New Year's Resolution! ;-)

      Love and hugs to you! So looking forward to being able to get up there some time in January!!

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  3. Very interesting! Thanks for this. :)

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  4. I have been visiting family and missed the first few days, but enjoyed this post immensely and am hurrying back to previous posts to see how it all began. As usual, your posts are informative as well as entertaining.

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    1. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! And thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the rest of it! :-) Hugs!

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  5. I am loving these posts about the "Twelve Days"! I had never heard of a colly bird before. I feel so smart now, haha. This is such a good idea to delve into the deeper meaning of a Christmas carol, Benita. I do hope that you have covered your floors and furniture with all of those birds you have right now ;)

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    1. I’m so glad you are enjoying them. This was just one of those deals I happened to stumble across and thought it was interesting. I really enjoyed finding out all of the “behind the scenes” info. HA…you are too funny! And yes, everything is covered…I hate birds…LOL I saw Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds” when I was much younger and that did me in! Hugzzz…hope you are having a great week!!

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  6. Thinking I'm going to print all these out for next year and give them out to family...such interesting info.
    Still drinking your eggnog or have you had your fill???? ;)
    xoxo, T.

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    1. What a great idea!! This is what I love about blogging and meeting new people....so many creative ideas!! I'm down to ONE carton and I'm trying to savor every last drop! :-) Of course, my waistline was finished with it 5 cartons ago....LOL Hugs to you!!

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  7. I have read a lot about this song, had to research it long ago...but never uncovered the colly birds fact. Very interesting!! I am not a fan of birds, but as long as they stay in the song, I'm good!

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    1. I’m with you…I hate the things! Quite a few years ago my youngest son came home from school to find a bird flying through our house. It had fallen in through the chimney…we were both hysterical and it took forever to get that thing out of the house. Thankfully, nothing was destroyed, but the next day I had a chimney company out to install a new cap!

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  8. Replies
    1. You are so welcome and I'm so glad you are enjoying it! :-)

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