There has recently been a widespread claim that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was actually written by English Catholics in "code" as catechism tool for their young.

The story has a lot of attraction, and on the surface, some credibility. But the facts don't support it. A few of the problems with this new "urban legend" are listed below. Most of these, and more, are spelled out in detail here. (This web site explores and corrects popular legends about Christmas and many other topics.)

• The song was originally French, not English, and France was a Catholic country, with no need to devise a "code" to communicate Roman Catholic teaching.
• The "code" as generally explained contains little or nothing that is distinctively Roman Catholic. Anglicans would have had no objection to general Christian teachings about the Old and New Testament, the Trinity, etc. Thus there would be no need to hide these teachings.
• There are no other examples of such "code songs" used by English Catholics. It would be very strange for them to write one such song, only usable around Christmas time. (What were they to do the rest of the year?)
• Two of the 'traditional' lines have been corrupted over the years. "Five golden rings" refers to neck-ringed pheasants, not jewelry. (Thus the first seven gifts are all of birds.) More significantly, :"four calling birds" is originally four colly birds, meaning 'blackbirds'. ("Colly" means coal-black.) Thus the original words contain no allusion to the four gospel writers "calling" out the gospel.
• Note that the "calling birds" is one of the best "connections" in the piece. There is little in the other gifts that suggests a special link. There is nothing, for instance, in three french hens that corresponds with the persons of the Trinity.)
• The claim of some that the song was written during the time of Cromwell runs into the difficulty that the observance of Christmas was outlawed during this time, under the influence of Puritans, many of whom did not accept the traditional Christmas observance as consistent with the Christian faith.
• Another problem with the Cromwell claim is that Cromwell's policies were not, in fact, as "anti-Catholic" as many have thought. Though he ruthlessly put down Irish Catholics who has sided with King Charles against his forces and Parliament, Cromwell actually allowed considerably more religious freedom than his predecessors. It was under Cromwell that Jews, banned since 1290, were readmitted to England. (For more on Cromwell's religious policies, see this article.)

There may be a very simple explanation to this legend. A song written before 1625, called, "A New Dial". This song, with twelve verses for the twelve days explicity links each day with a Christian teaching. Though not a "catechism" song (much less a secret one), many of its points match those now being suggested for "The Twelve Days of Christmas". (The text of the song may be found at the "urban legend" site mentioned above.) It may be that the Twelve-Days legend came about from confusion with this song.