According to William Cole the source of this nursery song is a broadside titled "Diddle Diddle Or, The Kind Country Lovers." It was printed sometime between 1672 and 1685. The original broadside had several more verses. Cole left nine out because they were too bawdy.*

In 1805 the song appeared in abbreviated form in Songs for the Nursery.*

Edward Rutherford, author of London, linked the song to the environs of London where in the 17th-century London lavender was cultivated for perfume.**

In Folk Songs of Old New England Eloise Linscott connects the song with the celebration of Twelfth Night and the choosing of the king and queen during the festival.***

In the West Twelfth Night is the night before Epiphany, celebrated on January 6. Epiphany, commemorates the three "manifestations" of Christ, the birth, the baptism, and the first miracle. It was one of three major holidays and one of the oldest festivals in the Christian Church (the others being Easter and Christmas). The twelve days of Christmas are the days from Christ's birthday (December 25) to Epiphany.****

The festival originated in the fourth century Eastern Church, which supplanted the celebration of an Egyptian solstice. On January 6 pagans celebrated the overflow of the waters of the Nile. In other pagan cults the date was the celebration of the birth of a new age, from the goddess Kore (aka Persephone), daughter of the goddess Demeter.****

• The History of Lavender
• The History of Lavender
• Epiphany
• Demeter
• Cult of Demeter
• Bulfinch's Mythology