Every year, it seems, someone publishes an article estimating the immense cost of the gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” How much would it set you back to hire a troupe of dancing ladies, or a pipe band — and, oh, my, those five golden rings?
But recently I stumbled across a different idea: that perhaps all twelve gifts were actually birds. What if the pipers were sandpipers, and the drummers were woodpeckers? Historians roll their eyes at that theory, but there is some evidence that “five golden rings” may once have referred to roasted ring-necked pheasants — so named for the neck bands on these handsome birds.
Still, I was skeptical. Pheasants aren’t native to North America; they were brought here from Asia in colonial times and didn’t truly take hold until the 1880s. So how could pheasants have been common enough in Renaissance England to appear on a Christmas menu?
It turns out they were. A Caucasian species of pheasant was introduced to Britain by Roman soldiers, and the first written record of the bird dates to 1059.
For the wealthy and the nobility, the "Twelve Days of Christmas" was a time of extravagant feasting, and roast birds were the stars of the table. Swans, despite their elegance, were said to be stringy, and French hens or laying geese could be tough. A richly roasted pheasant, golden and aromatic, would have been a far more tempting main dish.
So “five golden rings” might not have been jewelry at all, but rather, a luxurious dish... something fit for a king… or for a true love.
