A True Love’s Gift

I’ve never actually seen a real Turtle Dove.  They sound VERY nice in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” though.  Of the group of gifts that her/his true love gave to her/him, a quietly cooing pair of Turtle Doves seems like the real winner out of the bunch. 

Other than the 5 golden rings, obviously.  

(Who thought that 8 maids a-milking would be a great gift?  I’d take the maids, because I lean towards being rather lazy and could use the help around here, but must they a-milk?)   

The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” itself is an odd little ditty that has a long dusty history reaching back into the murky territory of old folk songs/poems of Europe.  The first time it appeared in print was in 1780 in a collection of songs and poems for children.  The book was entitled “Mirth Without Mischief”, which sounds more like a book you’d get from a stern Sunday School teacher.  There wasn’t music accompanying “TTDoC” in this original publication so it is thought to have been a memory game or what is termed a game of forfeit. 

The point, as with the song we are familiar with today, was to be able to recite the entire collection of gifts from Day 12 backwards to Day 1 and for each misstep or failure, a forfeit would be demanded.  The common ‘price’ of a forfeit fluctuated between a piece of confectionary (which presumably one carried around in one’s handbag for such an occasion) or a kiss. 

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” used to be a kissing game???  I just sat up straighter, didn’t you?

There is a LOT of information about how the lyrics evolved over the years through misinterpretation (‘partridge in a pear tree’ was at some point ‘part of a juniper tree’ and ‘calling birds’ were originally ‘colly birds’ [which look like robins but only come in black] ), but the consistent gift seems to be the two Turtle Doves.     

I decided to pursue my curiosity about the Turtle Dove and dove right in.  Oh, it’s pretty little thing!  Petite—each around 25cm long, beak to tail, with a wingspan of about 50cm and weighing between 100g-150g (or, for visual thinkers, between the weight of a stick of butter and an orange)—with an overall brownish-y colour.  The Turtle has a black tail edged with white, and very pretty orange wings, patterned with black diamonds.  The colour of its breast is referred to as “vinaceous” which more or less suggests the colour of a red wine stain on your white linen tablecloth that you inevitably only notice the next day.  The Turtle Dove has a distinctive striped neck patch, and, if you get very close and are still unsure about what kind of dove you’re dealing with, it has orange eyes.

Now, why this dove (which has absolutely nothing to do with turtles but does make a charming turrr-turrring sound) would have been included in this Yuletide song, is baffling to me.  The Turtle Dove leaves Europe during late summer and migrates to its winter timeshare in West Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, until it returns in April to raise that year’s family.  Whoever worked on “The Twelve Days of Christmas” clearly had money to throw around because Turtle Doves would definitely NOT be readily available during the depths of winter.  I suppose the same can be said about the inclusion of swans apparently a-swimming and geese a-laying though.  Is it just me or is there a suggestion that this ditty was written in the early summer? When most lords prefer to a-leap.

At least the depiction of there being a pair of Turtle Doves given on Day 2 rings true. Turtle Doves are lifers once they find a mate.  They have long been associated, through legend and culture, as representing love and tender affection.  They have been woven into Roman mythology, Biblical texts, and have been written about by everyone from Chaucer and Shakespeare to a Bronte and Edgar Allan Poe.  There was even a reference in “Home Alone 2” about the forever-pairing of Turtle Doves, for goodness’ sake.  Cliff Richards, Annie Lennox, Barry Manilow, and Madonna are among those who have sung their tributes. 

These days, the European Turtle Dove has found itself red-listed in conservation status.  Its numbers have been rapidly diminishing in later years for a variety of reasons.  I’ve looked into those reasons and although steps are being taken to support the endangered Turtle Dove through several creative solutions (check into operationturtledove.org for details), I haven’t seen any moratoriums launched to finally ban them from the list of true love’s gifts. 

My only suggestion is that if your boo shows up during this Christmas Season with something even remotely looking like either a partridge or a pear tree, stop them right there and just ask them for a gift card from HomeSense.  Save yourself the grief and do the Turtle Dove community a favour at the same time!