Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
What traditional songs do you know that show us women in roles of power- spiritually, economically, emotionally?
This mysterious medieval song “Maiden in the Moor Lay” is about a woman thought to be performing magical rites at a well. Some think she might be a water sprite, while others see her as performing Anglo-Saxon magic, and others still think it’s a representation of Mary Magdalene performing devotions in the wild.
Evidence shows us that the church viewed this song as secular, other times profane. In at least one case the lyrics were changed to make the song be about the nativity instead.
The woman, who lays in the moor for seven nights, drinks only the water of the well spring, and eats only primroses and violets. I love how this folk song gives us beautiful imagery to spark our imaginations!
What traditional songs do you know that show us women in roles of power- spiritually, economically, emotionally?
This mysterious medieval song “Maiden in the Moor Lay” is about a woman thought to be performing magical rites at a well. Some think she might be a water sprite, while others see her as performing Anglo-Saxon magic, and others still think it’s a representation of Mary Magdalene performing devotions in the wild.
Evidence shows us that the church viewed this song as secular, other times profane. In at least one case the lyrics were changed to make the song be about the nativity instead.
The woman, who lays in the moor for seven nights, drinks only the water of the well spring, and eats only primroses and violets. I love how this folk song gives us beautiful imagery to spark our imaginations!
