The popular Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has many different versions, but they're usually something along the lines of the following (final verse, which includes all the others):
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five gold rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree.
What do these choices of gifts symbolise? What's the deeper significance of each of the twelve types of people, animals, or objects? I seem to remember reading about a Christian significance (the twelve drummers are the twelve apostles, the four calling birds are the four evangelists, and so on). Wikipedia also mentions an interpretation in terms of Catholic catechism, but also cites a source claiming that this is incorrect. I'd be interested in seeing both the evidence for and against this Catholic interpretation, and also any other reasonable interpretation of the song. A good answer would list several different possible symbolic meanings and summarise evidence for/against each one.