Why did somebody make a death song (ring-around-the-rosie) that just so happend to be for REALLY little kids??

Question

Even though kids don't know that it's a death song...Why would they still sing it?

Answer 1

I agree with "Im not that" I sung it as a child and didnt learn until taking college courses as an adult what it was supposed to mean. Supposedly the children living during the black plague days created the song to describe the happenings during that time.
Now we have people saying that this information is false. Well how credabile are their sources that say it's false? It sounds too similar to what was going on during that time to mean any but that.

Answer 2

Wow, I didn't know the history behind this until reading your question. Thank you Swamp Angel for explaining what that song refers to.

I am posting because I have often wondered similarly why the original Mother Goose Rhymes were written as they were and why the old goose got to be so popular in our childrens libraries. They are very unfriendly towards children. Some of them, if you read the original rhymes in the older books, are downright cruel. Why on earth do we sing to our babies about cradles falling and bubonic plagues?

Answer 3

Contrary to popular belief, Ring Around the Rosie is -not- about the Black Death! It's just a nonsense rhyme of a type that abounds in children's literature, games and songs.

Answer 4

Because even REALLY little kids sometimes have to deal with the death of a loved one in their young lives. But I think this song was not written specially for kids. i think its a very old song that nowadays has become a children's song while the meaning has gotten lost over time.

Answer 5

Kids did know it was about: what to look out for, to avoid it. Children learn best by play, and song. It's still sung because it was very widely sung, and passed down for generations, though the later ones needn't know the origins.

Answer 6

the nursery rhyme "ring around the rosies" likely came about as a way to explain the bubonic plauge to children, the ring around the rosies being the bubons,or inflammed sores,a pocket full of posies was supposed to protect you from this,ashes ashes was what one got from trying to dispose of the infected corpses by burning,and we all fall down meant that everyone has it or was going to get it.and it probly wasnt originally a childrens song.like the three blind mice wasnt either.