Levy-Dew

[1][2] Substantially the same wording was included by Walter de la Mare in Tom Tiddler's Ground (1931), an anthology of verse for children.

De la Mare's version runs:[3][4] Here we bring new water from the well so clear, For to worship God with, this happy New Year.

[7] According to Trefor Owen, the song preserves "an early well-cult made acceptable to medieval Christianity by its association with the Virgin and perpetuated both by the desire to wish one's neighbour well at the beginning of a new year and by the small monetary payment involved.

"[8] Similar speculations from the nineteenth century have sought to link the mysterious maidens of the song with the goddess Aurora, bearing the gold of the rising and setting sun on her head and feet.

[1][4] Others connect it to Middle English levedy ("lady"), or to the French phrase levez à Dieu, "raise to God", which may in turn refer to the elevation of the Host in Christian liturgy.