Christmas Day 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me … eleven pipers piping.

I can hardly believe we are so close to the end of the holiday. Soon, this season will enter the archives of Christmases past, to be cherished and remembered for years to come, and we will be in what the Catholic Church calls “ordinary time.” Given the fact that the Christ child is departing, I suppose “piping” is an appropriate activity for the day, as it notifies everyone that someone important is leaving (at least that is what it means in the Navy). Of course, Christ doesn’t completely depart. We just begin to follow Him as an adult.

And who better to “pipe” Christ away than His eleven faithful apostles. Theologically, these are the individuals represented by the number eleven. Notice the elimination of Judas the Betrayer, traditionally known as the one who gave our Lord over to the Romans for crucifixion in return for thirty pieces of silver. Poor man.

Historically, Brownielocks.com has this to say about the pipers and their pipes:

Sitting around, watching your sheep was a pretty boring job. So, shepherds often would play their pipes. It is believed that on the night Jesus was born, shepherds were playing. It’s also rumored that while Rome burned, Nero wasn’t fiddling. Instead, he was playing bagpipes!

By the 9th century, the bagpipe was the instrument for all medieval celebrations. This music had only one single line of melody, which suited the bagpipe quite nicely, especially for dances called caroles.

Drones, which could produce only a single tone were added to the bagpipes in the 13th century. The drone is what creates that background hum that you hear. As the demand for more harmony, multi-notes, and melodies grew, the bagpipes were losing their popularity and being replaced by other musical instruments. But, [it] never died out in Scotland! In the 16th century, the bagpipe became an instrument associated with soldiers and fighting. It had a real stirring effect on the men! Because of this, the English banned the bagpipe in Ireland.

In France, the bagpipe was popular as an accompaniment for dance. In the 17th century, a new kind of bagpipe was created called the musette. These were driven by bellows (rather than mouthblown), and the sound was less shrill. The French nobility also had their musettes crafted not just as musical instruments, but as works of art, with ivory chanter and bag covers made of embroidered silk, with tassels and fringes. Many French musicians often played the musette as entertainment for Twelfth Night celebrations.

Being a descendant of Scotsmen (actually, Scotswomen), I like this day because I like bagpipes. I could listen to them daily, although I do occasionally tire of the oft-played Scotland the Brave. I much prefer the various reels and hornpipes that are heard at Highland festivals.

Other Thursday Activities:
- In preparation for a possible kitchen remodel, I sorted through schoolbooks in an effort to empty the family room bookshelves. We plan to turn our family room into our kitchen, and our kitchen into our family room.
- I purchased Christmas dishes for my daughter @ Target. On December 26th, she found one cereal bowl that I refused to buy without other matching dishes. Today, she found the matching bowls and dessert plates too. Needless to say, Katherine the Great is a happy girl.
- I purchased two lamps for my living room.
- King Richard helped our friend, JLZ, install a new video card on his computer.
- My daughter and I watched Wallace & Grommet: the Curse of the Wererabbit with the mother of JLZ while she was waiting for the video card installation procedure to be completed.

I hope your day was as rewarding and productive mine. Once again, Merry Christmas!

Photo of Eleven Pipers Piping Christmas ornament by artist P. Buckley Moss was taken from the website of the Finn Gallery in St. Petersburg, FL.