Child Ballad No. 79
Check out the folk song by Hedy West on Youtube.
The Wife of Usher's Well is a traditional ballad. The ballad tells the story of a woman who sends her children away, in most versions, to school. A few weeks later the children die. The mother grieves terribly for the loss of her children. The children return to her at Martinmas or Christmas, depending on the version. They are usually wearing hats made of birch, which are to protect the dead from the influences of the living. The mother has prepared a feast for her children, but the children now belonging to Death can not take part in it. They remind her they are dead now and must return at daybreak.
In a number of American versions the children happily return, telling their mother they are returning to their savior. The mother is told, in some cases by Jesus, that she must repent and at the end of the song she repents, dies, and goes to heaven with her children.
The song draws on the belief that if one mourns longer than a year and a day the dead may return to them.They return because the deep, long mourning is keeping them from their grave and their afterlife, presumably heaven.
Check out the folk song by Hedy West on Youtube.
The Wife of Usher's Well is a traditional ballad. The ballad tells the story of a woman who sends her children away, in most versions, to school. A few weeks later the children die. The mother grieves terribly for the loss of her children. The children return to her at Martinmas or Christmas, depending on the version. They are usually wearing hats made of birch, which are to protect the dead from the influences of the living. The mother has prepared a feast for her children, but the children now belonging to Death can not take part in it. They remind her they are dead now and must return at daybreak.
In a number of American versions the children happily return, telling their mother they are returning to their savior. The mother is told, in some cases by Jesus, that she must repent and at the end of the song she repents, dies, and goes to heaven with her children.
The song draws on the belief that if one mourns longer than a year and a day the dead may return to them.They return because the deep, long mourning is keeping them from their grave and their afterlife, presumably heaven.