Religion

12 Days of Christmas: The Hidden Catholic Meaning of Classic Christmas Song

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is a traditional Christmas carol with a hidden Christian meaning, believed to be a coded catechism used by English Catholics during the time when Catholicism was outlawed in England (1558-1829). Each gift in the song represents a different aspect of the Christian faith:

  1. A Partridge in a Pear Tree – Jesus Christ. The partridge, a bird willing to sacrifice its life to protect its young, symbolizes Christ sacrificing Himself for humanity.
  2. Two Turtle Doves – The Old and New Testaments of the Bible, offering the complete story of Christian theology.
  3. Three French Hens – The theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity (1 Corinthians 13:13).
  4. Four Calling Birds – The Four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) which spread the story of Christ.
  5. Five Gold Rings – The first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch.
  6. Six Geese A-Laying – The six days of creation (Genesis 1) that describe the creation of the world.
  7. Seven Swans A-Swimming – The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord).
  8. Eight Maids A-Milking – The eight Beatitudes, teachings of Jesus that start with “Blessed are…” in the Sermon on the Mount.
  9. Nine Ladies Dancing – The nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
  10. Ten Lords A-Leaping – The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).
  11. Eleven Pipers Piping – The eleven faithful apostles (excluding Judas).
  12. Twelve Drummers Drumming – The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle’s Creed.

This interpretation of the carol is not universally accepted and is considered by some as a fanciful folk legend. However, it serves as a beautiful example of how religious truths can be woven into popular culture. read more

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Xenogears – Retro JRPG Game Review

geeky

Xenogears is easily in my top 10 favorite games of all time. I also enjoy Xenosaga and Xenoblade as well which are spinoffs of this series (and involved most of the same staff). Xenogears was revolutionary for its time because of the extremely dark storyline and incredibly strong religious overtones which were considered to be almost “too mature” for a video game, especially in North America.

It had both scifi and fantasy elements; by that I mean, it really went into depth in some areas explaining the scientific theories and concepts behind certain things – but then other things have a more “magical” feeling that require suspension of belief. It also blended high tech (mecha, A.I., and space travel) with primitive “fantasy” style settings and characters.

Xenogears had some stellar production values and featured beautiful cutscenes, along with possibly the best soundtrack on Playstation One. Not only that, but it had 65+ hours of gameplay. Its storyline was not cookie cutter – it was very different from most other JRPG – and even its combat system was different from the traditional menu-based systems used by most other RPGs of the 90s.

To this day, Xenogears remains quite possibly one of the best JRPGs of all time. It has aged extremely well and is a game that really any JRPG fan should consider a must-play.

Title: Xenogears

Platform: Playstation One

Genre: JRPG

Publisher: SquareSoft

Release Date: 1998

Where to Buy: Your best choice if you have a PSP, PSVita, PS3, or PS4, is to pick it up on the PSN store. At time of writing it is priced at $9.99 – which is such an incredible buy for such an incredible game. https://store.playstation.com/… – However, if like some gamers out there, you are a Retro Game Collector, you may want the physical edition. At time of this review, Amazon has quite a few copies in stock ranging from $29.99 to $115 depending on the condition of the game disc, case, manuals, etc. You can see what they have available right here: http://www.amazon.com/Xenogears…

Geeky: 5/5 

Sweetie: 5/5 

Overall: 60/70 86% B “Very Good Game For Girls”

Gameplay: 10/10

The game world is huge and rich in lore read more

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