11 Pipers Piping!

Ever wondered what "wassailing" meant, as in the song's line, "Here we go a-wassailing, among the leaves so green"? There are two types: the House-Visiting wassail and the Orchard-Visiting wassail. The House version, as the name suggests, was when people went door-to-door singing Christmas carols. The Orchard version refers to the practice in England when people used to sing to trees in apple orchards (in regions where they produced cider) in order to promote a bountiful harvest for the next year.

In the song "Twelve Days of Christmas," it has been suggested that the "11 pipers piping" refers to the 11 faithful apostles. The twelfth, Judas Iscariot, is not included because he betrayed Jesus to the Romans and religious leaders.