A Partridge in the Au Pairs Tree (A Short Story) (12 Days of Christmas series Book 1)

Up to and including the Sunday after Epiphany or after 6 January, in , the Council of Tours proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season, and established the duty of Advent fasting in preparation for the feast. The Council held at Tours also spoke of a three-day fast at the beginning of January as an ancient custom, in that canon, which dealt with the fasts to be observed by monks, the council decreed, De ieiuniis. In Augusto, quia quotidie missae sanctorum sunt, prandium habeant, De Decembri usque ad natale Domini, omni die ieiunent.

Et quia inter natale Domini et epiphania omni die festivitates sunt, excipitur triduum illud, quo ad calcandam gentilium consuetudinem, patres nostri statuerunt privatas in Kalendis Ianuarii fieri litanias. In medieval era Christendom, Christmastide lasted from the Nativity to the Purification, many Churches refer to the period after the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas and up to Candlemas, as Epiphanytide, also called the Epiphany season.

During the Christmas season, various festivities are traditionally enjoyed and buildings are adorned with Christmas decorations and these Christmas decorations include the Nativity Scene, Christmas tree, jingle bells, as well as various Christmas ornaments. In the Western Christian world, the two days on which Christmas decorations are removed are Twelfth Night and Candlemas. Any not removed on the first occasion should be left undisturbed until the second, leaving the decorations up beyond Candlemas is considered to be inauspicious.

On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, the start of Christmastide, it is customary for most households in Christendom to attend a service of worship or Mass, in which they receive Holy Communion. The practice of giving gifts during Christmastide, according to Christian tradition, is symbolic of the presentation of the gifts by the Three Wise Men to the infant Jesus.

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In the Anglian city of Oxford, many Christian families, after attending church, in several parts of the world, it is common to have a large family feast on Christmas Day, preceded with grace. Throughout the twelve days of Christmastide, many people view Nativity plays, in Russia, Christmastide, understood as the period between Orthodox Christmas and Epiphany, is often referred to as Svyatki.

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Christmas — In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family. Although the month and date of Jesus birth are unknown, by the fourth century the Western Christian Church had placed Christmas on December Today, most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar and this is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December Although it is not known why December 25 became a date of celebration, December 25 was the date the Romans marked as the winter solstice, the shortest, and therefore darkest day of the year.

Jesus was identified with the Sun based on an Old Testament verse, the date is exactly nine months following Annunciation, when the conception of Jesus is celebrated. Finally, the Romans had a series of pagan festivals near the end of the year, so Christmas may have been scheduled at this time to appropriate, or compete with, one or more of these festivals.

The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, the economic impact of Christmas has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world. Christmas is a form of Christs mass. The form Christenmas was also used, but is now considered archaic and dialectal, it derives from Middle English Cristenmasse. In addition to Christmas, the holiday has been known by other names throughout its history. In the Gospel of Luke account, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census and it says that angels proclaimed him a savior for all people, and shepherds came to adore him.

In the Matthew account, magi follow a star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to Jesus, King Herod orders the massacre of all the boys less than two years old in Bethlehem, but the family flees to Egypt and later settles in Nazareth. The Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke are prominent in the gospels, the first recorded Christmas celebration was in Rome in Christmas played a role in the Arian controversy of the fourth century, the feast regained prominence after , when Charlemagne was crowned emperor on Christmas Day.

Partridge — Partridges are medium-sized non-migratory gamebirds, with a wide native distribution throughout the Old World, including Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. They are sometimes grouped in the Perdicinae subfamily of the Phasianidae and these are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to the steppes of Europe, Asia, Africa.

A Partridge in the Au Pair's Tree: 12 Days of Christmas series

Nowadays they are found nesting on agricultural land. They nest on the ground and have a diet consisting of seeds, species such as the grey partridge and the red-legged partridge are popular as game birds, and are often reared in captivity and released for the purpose of hunting.

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For the same reason, they have been introduced into areas of North America. According to Greek legend, the first partridge appeared when Daedalus threw his nephew, Perdix, supposedly mindful of his fall, the bird does not build its nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights and avoids high places. The most famous reference to the partridge is in the Christmas carol, the first gift listed is a partridge in a pear tree, and these words end each verse. Since partridges are unlikely to be seen in pear-trees it has suggested that the text in a pear tree is a corruption of the French une perdrix.

The partridge has also used as a symbol that represents Kurdish nationalism. Sherko Kurmanj discusses the paradox of symbols in Iraq as an attempt to make a distinction between the Kurds and the Arabs. He says that while Iraqis generally regards the palm tree, falcon, and sword as their symbols, the Kurds consider the Oak, Partridge. It is also the name of the fruit of the trees. Several species of pear are valued for their fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamental trees.

The pear is native to coastal and mildly temperate regions of the Old World, from western Europe and it is a medium-sized tree, reaching 10—17 metres tall, often with a tall, narrow crown, a few species are shrubby. The leaves are arranged, simple, 2—12 centimetres long, glossy green on some species, densely silvery-hairy in some others. The flowers are white, rarely tinted yellow or pink, 2—4 centimetres diameter, the fruit is composed of the receptacle or upper end of the flower-stalk greatly dilated. Enclosed within its cellular flesh is the fruit, five cartilaginous carpels.

From the upper rim of the receptacle are given off the five sepals, the five petals, pears and apples cannot always be distinguished by the form of the fruit, some pears look very much like some apples, e.

A Partridge in the Au Pair's Tree: 12 Days of Christmas series by Susan Donovan

One major difference is that the flesh of pear fruit contains stone cells, Pear cultivation in cool temperate climates extends to the remotest antiquity, and there is evidence of its use as a food since prehistoric times. Many traces of it have been found in pile dwellings around Lake Zurich. The pear was also cultivated by the Romans, who ate the raw or cooked. A certain race of pears, with white down on the undersurface of their leaves, is supposed to have originated from P. Other small-fruited pears, distinguished by their early ripening and apple-like fruit, may be referred to as P.

Other small-fruited species are used as rootstocks for the cultivated forms.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Older Musical settings of "Twelve Days of Christmas". This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.

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Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. January Learn how and when to remove this template message. As with the Easter cycle, churches today celebrate the Christmas cycle in different ways. Practically all Protestants observe Christmas itself, with services on 25 December or the evening before. But Do You Recall? Called Christmastide or Twelvetide, this twelve-day version began on December 25, Christmas Day, and lasted until the evening of January 5. During Twelvetide, other feast days are celebrated.

Retrieved 5 December Davenport, George's Court, for C. A Partridge in a Pear Tree: A Comedy in One Act. Archived from the original on 17 August Retrieved 16 December Annotations reprinted from Years of Christmas by Earl W. Retrieved 8 December The Twelve Days of Christmas. The Nursery Rhymes of England. For the date of , see this catalogue from the Bodleian Library p.

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Frederick Warne and Co. The Cliftonian December Jolly Games for Happy Homes. Lewis of Barnstaple, Mass. Lewis learned the song when a young girl from her grandmother, Mrs. Satchell, Peyton and Co. Dorset County Chronicle and Somersetshire Gazette: Melodies Once Popular in Yorkshire". Leeds Mercury Weekly Supplement: Journal of American Folk-Lore. Folk Songs from Somerset Second Series. William and Robert Chambers. Popular Rhymes of Scotland third ed. Retrieved 15 March Retrieved 7 December Chants Populaires des Flamands de France.

Retrieved 10 December There is absolutely no documentation or supporting evidence for [the claim that the song is a secret Catholic catechism] whatsoever, other than mere repetition of the claim itself. The claim appears to date only to the s, marking it as likely an invention of modern day speculation rather than historical fact. Gilchrist and Lucy E. Sandys refers to it as a "convivial glee introduced a few years since, 'A Pie [i.

The image of the bird in the pear tree also appears in lines from a children's counting rhyme an old Mother Goose. A pye sate on a pear tree, Heigh O! Once so merrily hopp'd she; Heigh O! Twice so merrily, etc. See Pape, Gordon, and Deborah Kerbel. A Plume Book, October In any case, really evocative symbols do not allow of [sic] definitive explication, exhausting all possibilities.

I can at most report what this song's symbols have suggested to me in the course of four decades, hoping thereby to start you on your own quest. Retrieved 2 November Despite Father Stockert's own acknowledgment of his mistake, years later Catholics in the United States in particular continue to spread this urban legend every Christmas season. James 28 December Retrieved 23 December James Gilhooley, "Those Wily Jesuits: The Hymns and Carols Of Christmas.

Retrieved 21 May Archived from the original on 16 December Retrieved 27 December Las Vegas Review-Journal , 5 April Retrieved 15 December Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Kindle Edition , 43 pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Nine Ladies Dancing , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Mar 14, Jeanette montgomery rated it liked it. It's an ok short story, it's my least fave of the collection of short stories so far. I liked the characters.

Jennifer rated it liked it Jan 19, Maryanne Hubbert rated it really liked it Dec 25, Hanson rated it it was amazing Dec 17, Violet rated it liked it Dec 26, Melanie rated it liked it Dec 10, Lemonitsa rated it liked it Nov 27, Charlene rated it it was amazing Jan 05, I have not read anything by this author prior to this short story and will be looking for more of her books to read. Mar 12, Jeanette montgomery rated it really liked it. First time reading this author and it is a quick easy read with a lovely story. I love all the characters. Oct 27, Lynn Smith rated it really liked it.

A fun and quick read. Jun 26, Nicole rated it really liked it. This book made me miss Sophie. Dec 07, Keshia Swan rated it really liked it. Quick and fun holiday mystery. Dec 14, Christina rated it it was amazing Shelves: Quick easy read and finished it in no time. Hope to have more short stories and books with these characters. Glad I have an ereader so I wouldn't have to miss this story. I love Sophie and the gang and it was great fun catching up with them.

Stacey Mackenna rated it liked it Dec 19, Jamie rated it really liked it Jun 03, Jenny Smith rated it really liked it Dec 23, MaryRhonda rated it really liked it Jul 26, Tonya Peterson rated it it was amazing Mar 09, Tara rated it it was amazing Dec 29,