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The Cost of 12 Days of Christmas
CtrlPhreak writes "PNC bank once again has come out with the Christmas price index, the cost of the 12 days of christmas. The result, swans cost 66.7 percent up from last year. The total cost rose 18.8 percent from the last year to a grand total of... $65,264.28, the largest percentage increase since 1987."
Remind me to get a better job next year.
Uh, despite your earnest attempt to pin the blame of this on George Bush and the Iraqi war, perhaps you might want to add in the fact that the American dollar is down roughly 18% for this same period -- very similar to the price increase of the 12 days of Christmas.
Yes, I know you hate the President, but he isn't responsible for every hideous and awful thing that happens to you regardless of whether you want him to be or not.
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
What the Fsck is funny about this? RTFA about where the costs come from. The moderators would do well not to mod up posts that have nothing wise or informative to say, that is getting to be a bad habit. I get tired of a place that is supposed to be a type of technical forum being a place where poltical rhetoric and nonsense replaces facts. Or can the younger generation who post here not understand facts? As for folks overspending, that happens even without Christmas, and even in good economic times. Lots of people have to get the latest and greatest this or that regardless of whether they can afford it. It Sad not funny, and it happens regardless of who is in the White House.
Notice your standard of living is up too. Remember back in the 70s when most people had 1 TV and if you were well to do you might have had 2? How much did your first VCR cost? Although the cost of living has been going up, I think you'll find that people spend less of their income, percentage wise, on basic living essentials. Then again, people today define cable TV and a car with leather seats as basic essentials. One thing for sure, most people today have a better standard of living and comfort level than the super rich had in the late 1800s.
It is expected that some of the younger population, with their ideals and unattainable standards, would take it too seriously. What is sad is when a wise and knowledgeable person take those responses seriously.
And let's be honest. If the sole criteria for upward moderation was wisedom and correct information, we would have precious few 5's, and a much less interesting forum. As it is I sit in awe at the amount of funny stuff that gets rated flamebait, or, even more distressing, interesting.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Someone needs to tell them you can get most of that stuff on Ebay for like 1/10th the cost of what they got.
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I have a hard time believing this. On December 16 2002 the price of an ounce of gold was US$333, while as of today, December 16 2003, the price is US$408. I can't believe that the cost of labor and other materials went down enough to compensate for this.
- Partridge in a pear tree = The One true God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ
- Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
- French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity
- Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
- Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch" which contain the law condemning us of our sins.
- Geese A-laying = the six days of Creation
- Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments of the Catholic faith
- Maids A-milking = the eight Beatitudes
- Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Spirit
- Lords A-leaping = the Ten Commandments
- Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
- Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed
None of those beliefs is particular to Roman Catholicism. The Anglican Church and all other major Protestant denominations embrace every single one of the doctrines supposedly related to the song. And tell me how in the world Ten Lords A-leaping was supposed to help people remember the Ten Commandments. The imagery is just silly.Efforts have been made to bridge the symbols to the doctrines they supposedly represent. Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists. You can easily deduce the explanation for this one. The calling birds are spreading the Gospel; they are telling the Good News to others. The problem is that in the original song, there were no calling birds. The song began as a French song. The fourth day was about 'houiller birds. Houiller, pronounced sort of like "colly," (I think the first consonant is a gutteral sound) is the word for coal used as an adjective. In this context, it means "black as coal." They were black birds, not calling birds.
Now, how do you explain the connection? And when in history were French Catholics being repressed by the Anglican Church so that they would have made this song?
There are many sites like this one that debunk this urban legend. See Snopes also.
When we Christians hold on to legends like this, it only serves to discredit everything else we claim to be true, including the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Catholics, please stop spreading rumors! Where is your source? You have none. It is true that Christians used to celebrate Christmas for the twelve days from Advent to Epiphany, but there is no evidence of religious doctrine being embedded in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" or of a connection to Protestant banning of Catholicism.
Preemptive strike on trolls: Yes, I know that Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25, pagan influences, yadda yadda, etc, but tradition and doctrine are not the same thing. The bottom line is that we don't (shouldn't) claim something to be true that isn't, and we disavow the evil sources that have affected our traditions.
I don't know about babylonian religions, but 12 is definately a recurring number in the Bible. There were 12 tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles, etc. Off the top of my head, I'd say the most common significant numbers in the Bible are 1, 3, 7, 12, and 40.
Alphanos