Is “Ring Around The Rosie” Really About The Bubonic Plague?
Historical Images Archive/Alamy Stock PhotoAn illustration of children playing “Ring Around the Rosie.” 1880.
Most people know the “Ring Around the Rosie” nursery rhyme, and most people have heard that it has a dark meaning: It’s all about the Black Death, or bubonic plague, which tore through Europe in the 14th century.
But is that really true?
There are plenty of articles online that claim it is. These sources say that the rhyme, which reads in part: “Ring around the rosie / pocket full of posies / ashes, ashes / we all fall down!” includes clear references to the plague.
Public DomainA 14th-century depiction of people burying victims of the Black Death.
“Ring around the rosie” could allude to the rashes the sick suffered, whereas “pocket full of posies” could be a nod to the flowers laid on the dead to mask their foul smell, or a reference to preventative measures that people used to protect themselves from illness. And “ashes, ashes / we all fall down” could represent plague victims dying and then being cremated.
“The fatalism of the rhyme is brutal: the roses are a euphemism for deadly rashes, the posies a supposed preventative measure; the a-tishoos pertain to sneezing symptoms, and the implication of everyone falling down is, well, death,” the Londonist reported in 2014.
However, it’s never been accepted by folklore experts that “Ring Around the Rosie” is about the Black Death. After all, there are many versions of this nursery rhyme, some without the above references, and it wasn’t even documented until hundreds of years after the plague swept through Europe.
Rather, the origins of this rhyme are likely innocent. Snopes suggests that it was probably written simply as a fun song for kids.
The Dark Potential Meanings Behind The Nursery Rhyme “Three Blind Mice”
Public Domain“Three Blind Mice” might actually refer to a bloody period in English history.
As nursery rhymes go, “Three Blind Mice” is one of the darker ones. After all, the modern version of the rhyme describes a rather grim scenario:
Three blind mice
Three blind mice
See how they run
See how they run
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?
According to American Songwriter, this seems to be a more recent, slightly different version of the original nursery rhyme, which was reportedly first penned by a writer named Thomas Ravenscroft in 1609.
So what does it mean? A popular theory about this nursery rhyme’s origin suggests that it has to do with Queen Mary I of England, also known as Bloody Mary. During her brief reign, from 1553 to 1558, the Catholic queen infamously burned hundreds of Protestants at the stake.
Public DomainQueen Mary I of England is known as “Bloody Mary” because of the hundreds of Protestants she had burned to death.
Three of these Protestant victims were dubbed the “Oxford Martyrs.” Some sources state that the fictional mice represent these victims, as they were burned at the stake for their “blind” belief in Protestantism.
Thus, the “three blind mice” could hypothetically represent Protestants. And the knife-wielding farmer’s wife could potentially represent Queen Mary I.
