What Is the Real Meaning Behind 'Ring Around the Rosie'?

Anyway, some of you might have been told this innocent nursery rhyme was about the Black Death that swept England in the 14th century. The rosies were the red marks of the bubonic plague, while the posies were the flowers plague doctors used to lessen the stench of death all around. The ashes were supposed to represent the cremated bodies of those who died from the great plague, and the falling down meant, well, falling down dead.

The Library of Congress notes that the first mention of "Ring Around the Rosie" and the plague comes in the middle of the 20th century, 700 years after the bubonic plague. The origins of the song seem to be in Germany in the late 18th century, with other versions also found in Switzerland and Italy.

"Ring Around the Rosie" doesn't arrive on British shores until the 1880s, as far as historians can tell. And England's last brush with the bubonic plague was in the middle ages in 1665, more than 200 years prior.

What about those ashes, though? They seem pretty deadly. Other versions of the song have different sounds in that third line, like a-tisha or husher, neither of which has anything to do with cremating bodies.

Plus there's the fact that cremating the dead was absolutely forbidden in 14th century England. Even those who died of bubonic plague were buried in accordance with church law.

So it turns out this is just the plague theory, and according to folklorists, there are a few theories on what this nursery rhyme is about. Another one is love.

So if the Black Death interpretation is out, how do we get from there to love? The answer is dance fever.

A Protestant dancing ban swept America and England in the 19th century, kind of like a very early "Footloose" situation. But like the kids in that 1980s movie, the kids of a century before would not be tamed.

They instead fashioned "play parties," where all the children would sing little rhymes in a circle while they moved around. Definitely not dancing, and really for sure not square dancing. It's a circle, Mother.

The songs, including "Ring Around the Rosie," were about courtship and crushes. In this particular case, someone stood in the middle of the ring as the rosie, or rosebush, which symbolized love. Other versions — including the Swiss, Dutch and Italian — also mention a rosebush.

While the teenagers defied the dancing bans, their younger siblings would imitate them. So as the fad for play parties fell out of fashion, little kids kept up the tradition of singing songs in circles. Some modern nursery games grew out of these play parties, especially those that involve rings, including "Little Sally Saucer" and "Ring Around the Rosie."

The version of "Ring Around the Rosie" most people are familiar with was first published in Kate Greenaway's "Mother Goose and the Old Nursery Rhymes," and that's the version kids have stuck with for more than 100 years. And the one now probably stuck in your head.