Many assume that the 12 days of Christmas are the days leading up to Christmas. Rather it is the opposite. The 12 days actually begin on Christmas Day and end at epiphany. While the popular Christmas Carol is about the gifts associated with the days, the 12 days are steeped in religious tradition. Following is the Twelve Days of Christmas Explained.

12 days of Christmas list

'The Twelve Days of Christmas' song is a classic Christmas carol. The cumulative song (where each verse is built on top of the previous verses), runs through the 12 days that make up the Christmas season with a new gift, starting off with 'a partridge in a pear tree' and ending with 12 drummers drumming'.

The gifts are as follows:

A partridge in a pear tree

Two turtle doves

Three French hens

Four calling birds

Five golden rings

Six geese a-laying

Seven swans a-swimming

Eight maids a-milking

Nine ladies dancing

Ten lords a-leaping

Eleven pipers piping

Twelve drummers drumming

What does each day of the 12 days of Christmas mean?

1. The first day of Twelvetide is Christmas Day, 25th December, and it's all about celebrating the birth of Jesus.

2. The second day of Christmas, 26th December, is Boxing Day. It is the day of the Christian martyr St Stephen. Boxing Day is also a public bank holiday in the UK, and it got its name during Queen Victoria's reign during a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.

3. The third day, 27th December, celebrates St John the Apostle, who wrote the Book of Revelation.

4. The fourth day of Christmas, 28th December, is the Feast Of The Holy Innocents – when people remember those killed by King Herod in his search for Baby Jesus.

5. The fifth day, 29th December, is dedicated to St Thomas Becket – the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century who was killed on 29th December 1170 for challenging the King's authority over the Church.

6. The sixth day, 30th December, remembers St Egwin of Worcester, who died on 30th December 717, he was known as the protector of orphans and the widowed.

7. The seventh day, 31st December, New Year's Eve, celebrates Pope Sylvester I. In Scotland, it is called Hogmanay.

8. The eighth day, 1st January, New Year's Day, celebrates Mary the Mother of Jesus.

9. The ninth day, 2nd January, is the celebration of the original Eastern Doctors of the Church: Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.

10. The tenth day, 3rd January, is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.

11. The eleventh day, 4th January, honours Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774–1821), who was the first native-born American saint.