medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Carissimi,
I may have missed out something. What is the problem with Twelve days? The urban legend approach justly discards the truly nonsensical claim that it would be a special Catholic allegorism. There is no need to repeat the arguments.
None of the arguments I read, however, addresses the problem that it can perfectly well be a respectable allegorical Christian song tout court, be it Anglican or Catholic. The wording, actually, is quite in tune with such a claim (a true lover donating - calling and sounding associated with NT references, rings with OT - quite charming, I would say) - although, I admit, we don't very often talk today about the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in everyday parlance.
It's speciality comes out when we recall an ordinary Abzaehlreim (as it is called in German), compare
Ein, zwei, Polizei,
drei vier, Grenadier,
fünf, sechs, alte Hex,
sieben, acht, gute Nacht
neun, zehn, du musst gehe'n!
(Sorry, as a Hungarian I don't have comparable English nursery rhimes ready in my mind ...)
And, after all, we also have the principle: Se non č vero, č molto ben trovato.
Best,
George
G. Gereby
associate professor
Ancient and Mediaeval Philosophy Department, Eötvös Loránd University Budapest
recurrent associate professor
Medieval Studies Dept.
Central European University
Budapest V.
Nador u. 9.
H-1051 Hungary
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+ 36.1.3273046 office
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