The Lyke Wake Dirge: A Song Sung Over the Corpse at a Wake

This 400 year-old song, sung over the corpse at wakes, tells of the soul’s journey through thorn bushes, across bridges and through flame. “Lyke Wake Dirge” (Roughly: “Corpse Wake Dirge”) was first documented in the 1620s in Yorkshire, England and would have been incanted or sung in an old form of the Yorkshire Dialect of Northern English (My pronunciation here is more modern overall, and this tune was added to the words in the 1890s.) At the time this song was documented, the writer noted that until about 1616, it was still traditional for a woman to come and sing “Lyke Wake Dirge” over the body. 

 In the song, the soul’s full journey through a kind of purgatorial landscape involves encounters with, sequentially, a moor made of thorny furze/gorse bushes, crossing over the “Brig O’ Dread” (Bridge of Dread), and finally meeting a trial of fire. If the soul’s owner has been generous in their lifetime- giving hose and shoes, and meat and drink, then none of these trials will cause them pain- they will have shoes to protect them from the thorns, and the fires will not burn them. This song is a blending of traditions- drawing not only on Christian beliefs, but possibly Germanic folklore. The medieval visionary Norse poem known as the “Draumkevedet,” which recalls an afterlife journey, also contains parallel realities of travels through a moor of thorns, the crossing of a bridge, and fire.

 This song's blended vision of the afterlife hints at the full diversity of beliefs concerning the soul's journey after death that weave their way through songs and stories in the Anglo-Celtic Isles. And in my upcoming course, “The Unquiet Grave,” that's where Scottish stories from our amazing instructor Eileen Budd come in!

Eileen specializes in folk beliefs and ancient Scottish legends, and in our course, she'll regail us with stories that center us in knowledge of the soul's destinations- to the land of fairy, into new animal forms, even to the stars. These stories remind us that there is no one path after death. 

 In ballads that I'll share alongside Eileen's tales, we'll see how the old songs also affirm this knowledge that stretches back to pre-Christian times.

 Eileen has a voice and a prescence that calms and enchants. We're so privileged to experience her knowledge in this course! You can watch a 5-minute documentary about her here if you'd like to get to know her a bit better!

 The Unquiet Grave begins on October 1st! Give yourself the gift of connecting to Appalachian and Scottish traditions that will help you explore songs to help you grieve and release the dead, stories that provide comfort and wonder about the afterlife, and funerary folk traditions to honor the dead and protect the living!

You can read descriptions of each of our exciting classes here!

Join us for this powerful autumnal experience of song and story.

All sessions are recorded so you'll never miss any material!