Nursery Rhymes

Ringa Ringa Rosies

Pocket Fulla Posies

Hushaa, Bushaa…

All fall down!

Who hasn’t spent many an hour in their childhood, memorizing and then reciting a ton of nursery rhymes?

While children (and many adults) gleefully sing along the popular ones, do we know the actual history and origin of the popular ones?

Let’s take the case of Ringa Ringa Rosies (that how I would pronounce the rhyme as a kid)

The actual lyrics go:

Ring around the Rosie

Pocket full of Posies

Ashes, Ashes (alternately – Atishoo, Atishoo)

All fall down.

This rhyme has a dark origin. It refers to the Black Death in Europe. The dreaded Bubonic plague swept across Europe in the 1300s. One of the symptoms of the plague, was the appearance of dark, ring like sores on the skin of the victim – Ring around the Rosie.

The plague claimed many a victim, and the streets would be piled up with dead bodies. To counter the foul stench of death, people would stuff their pockets with flowers called posies. In another version of the tale, the poor people had no money to battle the disease. All they had in the pockets were cheap, worthless posies.

The dead bodies were burned, leading to a lot of ashes – the third line. Alternately, the victims would violently sneeze – Atishoo, Atishoo…

The final line refers to the death of the victim.

Pretty dark, eh!

Here’s another one:

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Have you any wool?

Yes Sir, Yes Sir,

Three bags full

One for the master,

One for the dame,

One for the little boy,

Who lives down the lane

This probably refers to the heavy taxes that were imposed upon the commoners. One third of the produce was to be given to the crown, another third would go the church, and the little boy (commoner) was left with barely one third of his produce.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great wall

All the King’s horses

And all the King’s men

Could not put Humpty together again

There are various origin stories for this one. My favourite one is the story which claims that Humpty Dumpty refers to a canon which was mounted on a wall. During a particular battle, the canon was knocked off the wall. Despite the valiant efforts of the soldiers and their steeds, the canon could not be mounted again upon the wall. And hence the rhyme.

Yankee Doodle went to town

Riding on a pony

Stuck a feather in his cap

And called it macaroni!

The Americans (especially from the Northern regions) are referred to as Yanks. This ditty was originally sung by British soldiers who sang it to insult the American colonists. They considered the American to be uncouth and less refined. They made fun of them by implying that American thought, sticking a feather in one’s cap, made it fashionable and suitable for high society.

It’s pretty interesting to read up on such back stories and learn more about interesting events from history, and how they have been immortalized through children’s nursery rhymes!