"Levy-Dew", also known as "A New Year Carol" and "Residue", is a British

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

of Welsh origin traditionally sung in New Year celebrations. It is associated with a New Year's Day custom involving sprinkling people with water newly drawn from a

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

. The song was set to music by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

in 1934.

Lyric

As with any traditional folk song, there are a number of variations. What is now regarded as the standard version is attested from 1849 onwards. Substantially the same wording was included by

Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fi ...

in '' Tom Tiddler's Ground'' (1931), an anthology of verse for children. De la Mare's version runs:

set the De la Mare version of the song to music as "A New Year Carol" in 1934.

Traditions

The song is associated with

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

. There, it figured in a custom in which, on New Year's Day, children collect fresh water from a well, and go around with a sprig from an evergreen tree, which they use to sprinkle the faces of passers-by with the water while singing the carol and begging for gifts of food or money. Elsewhere in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, the custom is called , "new water", and the water was also used to lustrate rooms and doors of houses. This ceremony has a parallel in the Scottish

Hogmanay Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots language, Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 ...

tradition of ''saining''; here water drawn from a "dead and living ford", a ford crossed by both the living and the dead, is sprinkled through the house, and then

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

branches are burnt for the smoke indoors. The purpose of the rite is to '' sain'', or purify, the house for the new year.

Interpretations

Llanllawer Holy Well and the issuing stream - geograph

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." Similar speculations from the nineteenth century have sought to link the mysterious maidens of the song with the goddess

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

, bearing the gold of the rising and setting sun on her head and feet. The meaning of the words "levy-dew" in the original lyrics of the song is not certainly known. One line of speculation holds that the words represent the Welsh phrase ''llef ar Dduw'' or ''llef y Dduw'', "a cry to God". Others connect it to

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

("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.

Variant

The folk group Waterson:Carthy performed the song on their 2006 album ''

Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man ''Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man'' is a 2006 album by English folk group Waterson:Carthy, also featuring the vocal group The Devil's Interval, released on Topic Records. It is a collection of seasonal songs, most having a Christian flavour ( ...

'', but in this case the chorus begins "Residue, sing Residue".

Martin Carthy Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later ar ...

's liner notes tentatively credit the variant wording to an informant from the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

named Bert Hodgeson, and comment that "None of us can figure out the possible significance of the 'Residue sing Residue' chorus and neither could Bert – or whoever it was – but that was, he said, what was sung to him." The words may be a

mondegreen A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. "A misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing, esp. of the lyrics to a song". Mondegreens are most often create ...

. The recorded version also omits the stanza related to the water ritual, but adds two original verses in which the new year is welcomed through the south gate and the old year dismissed though the north gate. The version composed by

was featured on the soundtrack to the 2024 film '' Challengers''.

References

{{Authority control Welsh folk songs New Year songs Compositions by Benjamin Britten