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| Ring A Round A Rosie |
"Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down"
This is a usual game we play when we were kids. Everyone would hold hands together, and then we will turn around and around and sing the song until we all fall down and lie on the grass. It is somewhat similar to the Tagalog rhyme "Bubuka ang Bulaklak". To a child this song seems to be a ridiculous pass time for him and his friends to play, but in reality, this song has a deeper and darker meaning.
I have read in one of my researches that the new version of "Ring Around the Rosie" is called "Ring a Ring o Roses" which actually goes like this:
In a website called www.william-shakespeare.info, in an article entitled "The Black Death Bubonic Plage During the Elizabethan Era" written by Prove Oxford, I read about the dark truth of the Black Black Plage and how it affected many people in England. The article says:
"In 1563, in London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease. The Elizabethan City of London was filthy. It's population was growing continuously with poor people moving from the country to London in search of work. There was a total lack of a structured sewage system in Elizabethan London. All of the waste was just dumped into the River Thames. The River Thames is a tidal river and, as such, it would have acted like a natural sewer. But even so terrible epidemics of Black Death ( Bubonic Plague ) during the Elizabethan period still occurred. The spread was aided by the River Thames and its boats which were used as the major form of transport in London. The London streets were dark, narrow and dangerous and slow to travel through. Everyone used the river to move about and each London Elizabethan would have come into contact with the everyday presence of the dirt and the rats. A perfect vehicle for ensuring the spread of the disease in London."
Most of us feel sorry for the millions of victims who died during the Elizabethan era, but what EXACTLY does this have to do with the nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosie"? Well, here's your answer The first line, “Ring around the rosie,” describes the buboes that formed. (A bubo is a swelling in the lymph node). Most of the times the swelling is circular, thus forming a “ring.” The center turns black and is surrounded by a red rash. The “rosie” is the center of this reddish ring. The next line, "A pocket full of posies" tells us that the people would fill their pockets with sweet smelling flowers like posies and roses in order to ward off the bad smelling odors, thinking that the disease was transmitted by the foul smell coming from the sewers and the environment (but in reality, the foul smell came from the decaying bodies of the people that were thrown in "Plage Pits" and the sewers). The term "ashes ashes" meant the cremation or burning of the dead bodies of the Black Plague victims. The plague was only halted by the Great London Fire in 1666 which killed most of the rat who were carrying the disease and transmitting them VIA water sources. The English version of "Ring Around the Rosie" replaced the "ashes ashes" to "a-tishoo a-tishoo" as par to violent sneezing to be one of the major symptoms of the disease. The last line "we all fall down", meant the end for that person, when he dies due to the Black Plague. Once you have caught the epidemic you have 2-4 days left to live.
Jeez! I never thought that one of my favorite childhood games was actually a song about death. Talk about CREEPY! Anyways, I still have other nursery rhymes to boggle your mind. I hope you like my review on this one though.
~Ken Ricafort~
I have read in one of my researches that the new version of "Ring Around the Rosie" is called "Ring a Ring o Roses" which actually goes like this:
"Ring a ring o' roses
A pocket full of posies
A-tishoo A-itshoo
We all fall down"
Some sites say that this nursery rhyme is actually a song involving the Black Plage (also known as the Bubonic Plage) that dates back in 1665 or even way before the first outbreak in England that was in the 1300's. Back in the olden days, the people did not know what caused that wide-spread epidemic.
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| Death by the Bubonic Plague |
In a website called www.william-shakespeare.info, in an article entitled "The Black Death Bubonic Plage During the Elizabethan Era" written by Prove Oxford, I read about the dark truth of the Black Black Plage and how it affected many people in England. The article says:
"In 1563, in London alone, over 20,000 people died of the disease. The Elizabethan City of London was filthy. It's population was growing continuously with poor people moving from the country to London in search of work. There was a total lack of a structured sewage system in Elizabethan London. All of the waste was just dumped into the River Thames. The River Thames is a tidal river and, as such, it would have acted like a natural sewer. But even so terrible epidemics of Black Death ( Bubonic Plague ) during the Elizabethan period still occurred. The spread was aided by the River Thames and its boats which were used as the major form of transport in London. The London streets were dark, narrow and dangerous and slow to travel through. Everyone used the river to move about and each London Elizabethan would have come into contact with the everyday presence of the dirt and the rats. A perfect vehicle for ensuring the spread of the disease in London."
What happened in the Elizabethan era was very tragic. 60% of England's population died and 35% of Europe's population were killed due to this massive epidemic. and not only did this place strike Europe, but also in other places around the world like China and Mongolia.
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| People infected by the Black Plague |
Jeez! I never thought that one of my favorite childhood games was actually a song about death. Talk about CREEPY! Anyways, I still have other nursery rhymes to boggle your mind. I hope you like my review on this one though.
~Ken Ricafort~
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