what is the origin of the childrens rhyme "ring around the rosey " and what was the meaning?

Answer 1

This dealt with the Black Plague. Ring around the rosey referred to a small, reddened area surrounded by a slightly red, raised "ring" or welt around the red spot. Posies and other flowers were carried in an attempt to ward off the "evil spirits" causing the death, and also served to somewhat cover the stench of the rotting bodies. Ashes refers to the fact that thousands of bodies were burned because it was too time-consuming to dig all the graves that would have been necessary. We all fall down refers to the fact that the populace really did believe it was the end of the world and that they were all going to die - plus the fact that victims sometimes took sick so suddenly and without warning that they literally fell down.

Answer 2

When the plague ravaged the towns and countrysides of Europe, only ending when the flea carrying rodents were burned in a fire. The PBS special on the matter went so far as to trace the beginnings of the plague to a small village that had sent some bolts of fabric to a city, or perhaps my memory is faulty and the plague came to the village from the town, but it spread out in waves like a stone hitting still water from there, with people dying. The children became so used to seeing death and the aftermath during this time that it was no longer the terrible thing it truly was and incorporated it into their games. The rhyme was sang as the children literally acted out the tragedy, joining hands to form a circle that they moved around to symbolize family, they fell down in sickness and death and then were ashes, since the bodies were burned, after a time when there were too many dying for the gravediggers to keep up. Sad beginnings for a children's rhyme that most of our children were taught by parents, wasn't it?

The first time the rhyme was published truly has nothing to do with where it came from or how long it was in general use prior to that time. After all, the first time someone takes credit and earns money in the doing is all this is.

Answer 3

Despite the long explanation - mainly correct - citing good old wikipedia (which is not, of course, completely correct on everything), it is an ancient childrens' rhyme. The fact it was first written down in the 1800s means little. Huge aspects of life were never recorded before the 18th/19th Centuries just because they related to the 'common' people!

"A ring, a ring of rosies" = the signs of the outbreak of plague on a person's skin. They were the 'bubons' from which "Bubonic Plague" especially represented by "The Black Death" and "The Great Plague of London" outbreaks took their name.

"A pocket full of posies" = the 'pomanders' of scented oranges, etc, or bunches of herbs believed to ward off the evil of plague.

"Atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down" = The traditional British version, using the onomatapoeic 'sneeze' sound, represented the sneezing and coughing prior to death, followed by 'all falling down dead'.

Most bodies were buried in mass graves - not burned (though houses where the dead had been removed were). The use of "Ashes, ashes", therefore, appears to have been a case of linguistic change.

Whether it was meant as a warding spell to keep the Plague away, or a macabre 'celebration' the people reciting it were still alive can only be debated.

Answer 4

The words to the Ring around the rosy children's ring game have their origin in English history . The historical period dates back to the Great Plague of London in 1665 (bubonic plague) or even before when the first outbreak of the Plague hit England in the 1300's. The symptoms of the plague included a rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin (Ring around the rosy). Pockets and pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The term "Ashes Ashes" refers to the cremation of the dead bodies!

Answer 5

This rhyme is thought to be talking about the Black Death, or plague. The "ring around the rosey" references the legions that were often seen on the infected. Poseys were used in religious ceremonies, I think. And ashes refers to the burning of the bodies.

Answer 6

"Ring a Ring O'Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosey" is a nursery rhyme or children's song and game that first appeared in print in 1881 but may have been recited as early as the 1790s.
common conjecture is that the rhyme is somehow connected to the Great Plague of London in 1665, or perhaps earlier outbreaks of bubonic plague in England. This story is entirely unsupported by textual sources, as there is no mention of the verses, nor written evidence of their existence, before 1881.

This idea, however, remains entrenched in the imagination of many. Detailed explanations have evolved to explain the different parts of the poem. For example, the first line evokes the round red rash that would break out on the skin of plague victims. The second line's "pocket full of posies" would have been a pocket in the garment of a victim filled with something fragrant, such as flowers that aimed to conceal the smell from the sores and the dying people. A second creative explanation for this line is that it referred to the purported belief that fresh-smelling flowers, nosegays, and pomanders would purify the air around them thus warding off disease. A third possibility includes the idea that "posies" are derived from an Old English word for pus, in which case the pocket would be referring to the swelling sore.

"Ashes, ashes" would refer to when people alive and dead were gathered up into piles and lit on fire in a belief that burning the diseased bodies would not allow the disease to spread. Several alternate endings to the song exist, one being: "atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down", intepreted as invoking the sneezing before "we all fall down", the eventual succumbing to death.

The first time the nursery rhyme was suggested to be plague related seems to be in 1961, James Leasor's book The Plague and the Fire. However, it is not clear whether Leasor concocted the plague interpretation on his own.

The rhyme was first published in Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose or The Old Nursery Rhymes (1881), centuries after the plague swept Europe; and there is no evidence of an earlier version. Further, many early versions of the rhyme omit the lines used to support these references to the plague. The plague connection is considered false by scholars of folklore.

Answer 7

origin in English history . The historical period dates back to 1665 during the Great Plague of London (bubonic plague). The symptoms of the plague included a rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin (Ring around the rosy). Pockets and pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The term "Ashes Ashes" refers to the cremation of the dead bodies! The death rate was only halted by the great fire of London. The English version of "Ring around the rosy" replaces Ashes with (A-tishoo, A-tishoo) as violent sneezing was another symptom of the disease.

Answer 8

It comes from the time during the plague, and the ring around the rosey was the blemishes that would arise from the disease. Pocket full of Posey is the flowers on the dead person's body. And when they say "ashes, ashes, we all fall down", this is the sneezing that denotes the onset of the virus.

Answer 9

I have a book that says that the song ring around the rosey actually came out around the time, and is about the black plaque.

Answer 10

It describes the look of the sores caused by bubonic plague (black death) and the posies were the bunches of flowers people carried and held at their noses to protect themselves from it.
(they actually thought that it was the smell that caused the disease)
Lesions meaning sores not legions.
Ashes is wrong, It is supposed to be the sound of a sneeze, sneezing being another symptom. So atchoo, atchoo, and all fall down is of course the next step in the disease. Fall down and die.

Pretty horrible rhyme for kids to chant eh.