Out-of-season post

" the partridge in church symbolism indicates abandonment of faith, the partridge being known as a bird that deserts its young. (here it may imply fickleness.) the pear tree possibly refers to a one-time christmas custom wherein a young girl, upon backing into a pear tree, then circling it three times, was to be rewarded by seeing the image of her true love. the three french hens are breton hens, the four colley birds are "collied", or coal-black. the five golden rings refer to the ringed pheasant. .... since this is traditionally a time of great ceremony, it is thought by some that the gifts of the song refer slyly to penances exacted for failure to observe certain fine points of ritual. "

-- Ben Shahn, a partridge in a pear tree