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鈥淒oes Ring a Ring o鈥� Rosie really come from the Black Plague?鈥�

It鈥檚 a question that many folks readily reply 鈥測es鈥� to: many have been taught that beneath their seemingly simple rhymes and catchy tunes, nursery rhymes refer to historical figures or events. However, in the case of this nursery rhyme, it is not true.

Origin of the tale:

In case you aren鈥檛 familiar with it, the idea behind the nursery rhyme鈥檚 origins in the Black Plague comes from two specific phrases: 鈥減ocketful of posies鈥� and 鈥渁shes, ashes, we all fall down!鈥漈here are numerous theories as to what these two phrases mean, and each individual phrase has three to four different potential references. Perhaps most common, is the idea that 鈥減ocketful of posies鈥� were nosegays carried by people during the Black Plague which helped ward and protect them from catching the bubonic plague. And for the phrase 鈥渁shes, ashes, we all fall down鈥�, the reference to the death that claimed many lives during the plague and the subsequent cremation of the victims.

However, there is not just one version of the 鈥淩ing a ring o鈥檙osie鈥� nursery rhyme! So not all of the texts have the same reference to ashes or pockets of posies. Let鈥檚 examine a few of them.

Variations:

In 1898鈥檚 Dictionary of British Folk-Lore, the text reads:

鈥淩ing, a ring o鈥� roses,

A pocket full o鈥� posies,

Up-stairs and down-stairs,

In my lady鈥檚 chamber 鈥�

Husher! Husher! Cuckoo!鈥�

In 1883 William Wells Newell published two versions in Games and Songs of American Children

鈥淩ing a ring a rosie, A bottle full of posie, All the girls in our town, Ring for little Josie.鈥�

and

鈥淩ound the ring of roses,

Pots full of posies,

The one stoops the last

Shall tell whom she loves the best.鈥�

The variations above are only British and American ones鈥� there are also versions from around the 海角社区: Indian versions, Croatian-Serbian versions, Italian, and even German variations of the rhyme.

Folklorists鈥� positions:

Though there is much speculation that the rhyme references the Black Plague, this is not in fact the consensus made by most folklore experts, for several reasons. First, the speculation that the rhyme referred to the Black Plague is a modern one, yet the referenced event occurred in the 1300s. If it were true, why did the version that uses ashes and posies only show up 500-600 years later, mid-Twentieth century? The symptoms described in the nursery rhyme also are not particularly accurate as far as what was experienced by victims of the plague. The numerous variations of the nursery rhyme also support the case for it not being in reference to the plague. With such variety, it鈥檚 unlikely that the origin was one event.

While it may be fun to imagine that playing the childhood game of running in a circle, hands held, and falling down in delight and laughter on the ground mimicked evens that killed many lives, it is in fact not true.