![]() ![]() This is less gripping, perhaps, than the interpretation which places the rhyme’s origins in the Great Plague, but most nursery rhymes elude such reductively simplistic explanations. Perhaps the ring of roses is simply a poetic description of the physical act of dancing in a circle (the children are the roses), they form a little ‘pocket’ of flowers by dancing in a ring, and then when the dance stops they curtsey: But perhaps it won’t do to over-analyse the rhyme and look for universal or coherent meaning in nursery rhymes, any more than it does when analysing the nonsense verse of Lewis Carroll. Is the song more about hay fever than plague? Perhaps. The dance ends with a curtsey or bow to the other participants, hence the falling down, while the sneezing may be linked to the flowers. Eliot’s description of Tudor folk dancing round and round the bonfire in ‘East Coker’, or another famous rhyme, ‘Here we go round the mulberry bush’). Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.But what these rhymes all have in common is that they centre on children holding hands and dancing round in a circle or ring, something that is part of many ancient cultures (consider T. Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and Screamin’ Mamas (USA)Ĭome and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. It is from Vassar College and it’s a photo of something called “The Trig Ceremonies’ “Ashes, Ashes” was said to be a reference to burning the bodies, and “we all fall down” was about how the plague struck down everyone, young or old, rich or poor. #RING AROUND THE ROSIE MEANING FULL#“Pockets full of posies” were flowers carried to mask the smell of dead bodies. “Ring around the rosie” was said to be the black circles that would appear on victims. I even recall a teacher breaking down the poem in relation to the plague. The cold weather of late autumn took care of the rest of the fleas. When the Great Fire of London happened in 1666, it destroyed many of the rats and fleas responsible for spreading the disease. Conditions in 1665 London were not very sanitary, so the plague spread quickly and killed many. ![]() The plague was spread by the bite of an infected rat or a flea that had bitten one of these rats. What did the victims think when the rosy red rash (ring around the rosie) first appeared on their skin? Did they fill pockets on their clothing with pouches of sweet-smelling flowers and herbs (a pocket full of posies) to try to hide that fact that the disease was tearing through their body? Not to mention that unplanned sneezes would come along all too frequently. ![]() I am sure that the mere mention that this disease might be present in one’s household brought terror. The Black Death, otherwise known as the bubonic plague, swept through London, England, in the spring, summer, and fall of 1665. Some dispute this, so I consider it a folkloric tale of a traditional rhyme. Or in some versions of the urban legend, the children’s game is about the Black Plague which is from the 1300s. Supposedly, the well-known children’s chant “Ring Around the Rosie” is about the Great Plague of London which wiped out 100,000 people in about a year and a half during the 1600s. I even recall my teachers discussing it in class. It reminded me in a way of a macabre Ring Around the Rosie. This is one of my outsider oils that I bought at an Oakland flea market. ![]()
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