I was listening to a comic on XM Radio today and his act was about nursery rhymes and how gruesome most of them were. I kind of already knew that, but he hit on a nursery rhyme to which he gave a particularly gruesome past, and I was stunned.
I checked it out on the Internet and found conflicting articles. Below I have posted an article I found on http://www.associatedcontent.com about the rhyme and I’d like to know what other people think of it. Is the story about the nursery rhyme Fact or Urban Legend?
THE ARTICLE:
Over the years, we have sung the words to a children’s song without ever knowing what it meant. Many people are very surprised when they find out how dark and depressing, “Ring Around the Rosie,” actually is. These people cannot believe that the song is actually about the Bubonic Plague.
If the song is broken down into comments and lines, it is easier to see how dark and depressing the song actually is.
Ring Around the Rosie
When a person contracted the Bubonic Plague, they would gain rose-colored, puss-filled sores on their body called rosies. As the infection spread, rings would wind around the rosies. “Ring around the rosie,” refers to these rings.
Pocket Full of Posies
During the time of the Bubonic Plague, people realized that it was harmful to go around the body of someone who had died from the plague. The common practice in some areas of Europe was to fill the shirt or jacket pocket of the deceased with posies so that others would know to leave the body alone.
“Pocket full of posies,” was what would soon happen after the person started getting the rings around the rosie. Once the rings started to form, the undertaker would be called to prepare the posies.
Ashes Ashes
Once the body of the person who had died from the plague had been taken away, it would be burned. This is essentially when cremation started as a form of burial.
There was a lot of worry that extra handling of the body could cause people to get sick. There was also worry by some that the body would come back in the form of a vampire or some other type of the walking dead. Burning the body was the only true option they had.
We All Fall Down
It was believed by many that eventually the Bubonic Plague would wipe out all of civilization. It is understandable why they had this belief because of the number of people that were dying everyday from the Plague.
Pretty grusome stuff, eh?
Jewels
2 responses so far ↓
chapewilson // July 31, 2008 at 10:37 am |
Most traditional children’s stories, as well as nursery rhymes, were created at a time when most people were illiterate. They acted both as a means of retaining societal memory and as cautionary tales. Over the years, the original meaning has been lost, leaving us with only the tale or rhyme.
For a contemporary treatment of Hansel and Gretel, watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3, Episode 11, titled “Gingerbread.”
Buffy also entered the fairy tale world in Season 4, Episode 10, with “Hush.”
Jewels // July 31, 2008 at 12:12 pm |
Very interesting. I had no idea that nursery rhymes served any other function aside from something fun for children to recite. I’ll definitely have to investigate them further.
Thanks for your input!
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