Christmas Price Index chose the items in the popular Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as its market basket: a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold(en) rings, six geese, seven swans, eight maids, nine dancing ladies, ten leaping lords, eleven pipers, and twelve drummers. According to tradition, the purchasing of the items begins on December 26 and ends on January 6. PNC compiles both a "Christmas Price Index" and "The True Cost of Christmas." The "Christmas Price Index" is calculated by adding the cost of the items in the song. The "True
The Twelve Days of Christmas (song) a flourish on the words "Five Gold Rings". This has not been copied by later versions, which simply repeat the melody from the earlier verses. In the 19th century, most sources for the lyrics do not include music, and those that do often include music different from what has become the standard melody. Cecil Sharp's "Folk Songs from Somerset" (1905) contains two different melodies for the song, both distinct from the now-standard melody. Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the items mentioned in the song have been used as a tongue-in-cheek economic indicator. Assuming the gifts are repeated in full