The Eleventh Day of Christmas
04/01/16 04:21
We had a wonderful 95th birthday party at the church yesterday. One of the daughters of the woman whose birthday we celebrated has a gorgeous soprano voice and has sung in our church many times. When she visits, she will often sing the descant on one or more hymns, adding dramatically to our hymn singing as a congregation. I love her visits, and I know I’m not alone in that feeling. In conversation with someone who sat near her in church, I heard the phrase, “She’s got quite a set of pipes.” We use that phrase to refer to someone with a beautiful singing voice, but the origin of the phrase is not, I believe, a reference to vocal capabilities. To say that someone has a “set of pipes,” is a reference to a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag.
You’ve got it. People were talking about bagpipes. When we think of bagpipes, we are often thinking of the Scottish Great Highland bagpipes. You know the musical instrument to which I am referring. It is played at parades and funerals and often is associated with firefighters, police and other first responders. There are, however, many other forms of pipes. Bagpipes have been played for centuries (and continue to be played) throughout large parts of Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, around the Persian Gulf, Northern Africa and North America.
Eleven pipers piping would be a fairly expensive proposition. The average price for fully combed and beaded blackwood pipes is about $1200-$1600. Multiply that by 11! I suppose, however, that you could do better by shopping for used bagpipes. I think that there are always a few for sale on eBay - usually offered by disgruntled family members rather than by an actual piper. Some are offered for purposes other than playing: appropriate for decorative wall-hanging.
As a quick aside, I’m never sure whether or not we are supposed to use “bagpipe” in the singular or in the plural. Is one instrument a bagpipe and several bagpipes? Or is a single instrument bagpipes because there are several stems with reeds fed from the same bag? It is the multiple stems and the ability to play more than one tone at a time that gives the pipes their distinct sound.
It is, however, an acquired taste. Not everyone would consider the gift of eleven pipers piping to be their favorite Christmas memory. Among other things eleven pipers piping would create quite a bit of volume, perhaps more suitable for an outdoor venue.
Outdoors has been a good place to be the last several days here in South Dakota. Yesterday afternoon we took our family out to Placerville Camp, a favorite place for all of us. We have been eager to share the camp with our grandchildren. Our grandson did visit once when he was a baby, but I am sure he has no memory of that particular visit. Yesterday however, there was snow for sledding and a few games inside of Mayflower Hall for a quick warm up before we headed home. A friend who is an accomplished photographer took family pictures for us that I am sure will be treasures for years to come.
The twelve days of Christmas are quickly passing. Epiphany Day is Wednesday. There is always a bit of confusion over how the days of Christmas are counted. I count the twelve days beginning with Christmas Day as number one, arriving at the 12th day on December 5. Others, however, count the days after Christmas, which makes January 6 - Epiphany Day - the 12th day after Christmas. However you count, the days pass quickly and the season as celebrated in the church is fairly short. Short and sweet leaves us wanting more each year, which isn’t a bad feeling. As Roy Blount Jr. one said, “’Tis better to have been good and over than rotten and gone on too long.”
I’m thinking that we won’t have any bagpipe playing at our house today. We’ve been going pretty much full steam ahead since our children and grandchildren arrived and I noticed that folks were pretty tired when it got to bedtime last night. But what a wonderful visit we have had! And we still have several days of celebration and visiting ahead of us. There will be time for several more important conversations with children and stories with grandchildren and games and toys that were received as gifts are still so new that each time they come out is a fresh excitement. And we’ve no need of bagpipes at our house. Our little granddaughter is strong-willed and possessed of an independent spirit and perfectly capable of making her desires known. As they say, “she’s got a set of pipes on her.” I’m sure that she is capable of testing her parents’ patience at times, but grandpa has a different perspective and finds her to be continually delightful. There will be no confusing her with her brother when they get to be school age.
Eleven is a special number in our way of counting if, for no other reason, it is the first number that repeats the use of digits in our written form. The combination of two of the same digits continues with 22, 33, 44, etc., but 11 leads the way. For me it is yet another sign of the extravagance of God’s abundance. We don’t stop at ten, but continue beyond ten when we are counting the blessings of the season.
Of course for the schoolchildren who are returning to their classes today and the workers whose schedules resume their normal pace, today is a return to the usual and not viewed as a holiday. We have the luxury of Monday being our usual day off and have saved some extra days off to spend with our family, so our pace won’t be too intense this week though we will soon be into the finishing of budgets and preparations for the annual meeting of our congregation.
For today, however, we remember the pipers and enjoy the celebration. Christmas continues!
You’ve got it. People were talking about bagpipes. When we think of bagpipes, we are often thinking of the Scottish Great Highland bagpipes. You know the musical instrument to which I am referring. It is played at parades and funerals and often is associated with firefighters, police and other first responders. There are, however, many other forms of pipes. Bagpipes have been played for centuries (and continue to be played) throughout large parts of Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, around the Persian Gulf, Northern Africa and North America.
Eleven pipers piping would be a fairly expensive proposition. The average price for fully combed and beaded blackwood pipes is about $1200-$1600. Multiply that by 11! I suppose, however, that you could do better by shopping for used bagpipes. I think that there are always a few for sale on eBay - usually offered by disgruntled family members rather than by an actual piper. Some are offered for purposes other than playing: appropriate for decorative wall-hanging.
As a quick aside, I’m never sure whether or not we are supposed to use “bagpipe” in the singular or in the plural. Is one instrument a bagpipe and several bagpipes? Or is a single instrument bagpipes because there are several stems with reeds fed from the same bag? It is the multiple stems and the ability to play more than one tone at a time that gives the pipes their distinct sound.
It is, however, an acquired taste. Not everyone would consider the gift of eleven pipers piping to be their favorite Christmas memory. Among other things eleven pipers piping would create quite a bit of volume, perhaps more suitable for an outdoor venue.
Outdoors has been a good place to be the last several days here in South Dakota. Yesterday afternoon we took our family out to Placerville Camp, a favorite place for all of us. We have been eager to share the camp with our grandchildren. Our grandson did visit once when he was a baby, but I am sure he has no memory of that particular visit. Yesterday however, there was snow for sledding and a few games inside of Mayflower Hall for a quick warm up before we headed home. A friend who is an accomplished photographer took family pictures for us that I am sure will be treasures for years to come.
The twelve days of Christmas are quickly passing. Epiphany Day is Wednesday. There is always a bit of confusion over how the days of Christmas are counted. I count the twelve days beginning with Christmas Day as number one, arriving at the 12th day on December 5. Others, however, count the days after Christmas, which makes January 6 - Epiphany Day - the 12th day after Christmas. However you count, the days pass quickly and the season as celebrated in the church is fairly short. Short and sweet leaves us wanting more each year, which isn’t a bad feeling. As Roy Blount Jr. one said, “’Tis better to have been good and over than rotten and gone on too long.”
I’m thinking that we won’t have any bagpipe playing at our house today. We’ve been going pretty much full steam ahead since our children and grandchildren arrived and I noticed that folks were pretty tired when it got to bedtime last night. But what a wonderful visit we have had! And we still have several days of celebration and visiting ahead of us. There will be time for several more important conversations with children and stories with grandchildren and games and toys that were received as gifts are still so new that each time they come out is a fresh excitement. And we’ve no need of bagpipes at our house. Our little granddaughter is strong-willed and possessed of an independent spirit and perfectly capable of making her desires known. As they say, “she’s got a set of pipes on her.” I’m sure that she is capable of testing her parents’ patience at times, but grandpa has a different perspective and finds her to be continually delightful. There will be no confusing her with her brother when they get to be school age.
Eleven is a special number in our way of counting if, for no other reason, it is the first number that repeats the use of digits in our written form. The combination of two of the same digits continues with 22, 33, 44, etc., but 11 leads the way. For me it is yet another sign of the extravagance of God’s abundance. We don’t stop at ten, but continue beyond ten when we are counting the blessings of the season.
Of course for the schoolchildren who are returning to their classes today and the workers whose schedules resume their normal pace, today is a return to the usual and not viewed as a holiday. We have the luxury of Monday being our usual day off and have saved some extra days off to spend with our family, so our pace won’t be too intense this week though we will soon be into the finishing of budgets and preparations for the annual meeting of our congregation.
For today, however, we remember the pipers and enjoy the celebration. Christmas continues!