Ring Around the Rosey

Most of us have sung this song as children. However, this rhyme has a much darker meaning . . .

During the outbreak of the plague in England, first in the 1300s and then later in the 1660s, children would sing this song as a means of coping with and understanding the horror of the plague occurring around them. Here is the most common interpretation of the children’s nursery rhyme.

“Ring Around the Rosey”
One of the first signs of the infection was a small, pink rash on the skin, surrounded by a bumpy red ring that would eventually appear all over the victim’s body.

“Pocket Full of Posey”
Many people at that time believed that the infection was spread through foul-smelling, dirty air. They would, therefore, stuff their pockets with fresh smelling items, such as flowers, to protect themselves from “bad air,” the sweet smell canceling out the bad. In addition, those already infected with the virus and still mobile would carry flowers in their pockets to cover the “foul stench that would begin to emanate from [their bodies] as their lymph system began filling with blood.”

“Ashes, Ashes”
This line has two interpretations. The first: Once a body had perished from the plague virus, a cart would travel through the town and collect them. The bodies would then be dumped in a heap and burned, so as to once again prevent the spread of infection.
The second: “In the terminal phases of the disease, victims would be hemorrhaging internally, sometimes triggering sneezing as it irritated the breathing passages. "Ashes" is a child's approximation of a paroxysm of sneezing. In this weakened state, a victim could, and often did, sneeze their lungs out.”

“We All Fall Down”
This line is, of course, where death finally enters the victim and, ultimately, all of us.

Here is another version of the rhyme:
Ring-a-ring o’ rosies,
A pocketful of posies,
Ah-tishoo! Ah-tishoo! (imitative of sneezing)
We all fall down!

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