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Connections to the Bubonic Plague (Black Death)?
The words to the Ring around the rosy children's ring game have their origin in English history . The historical period dates back to the Great Plague of London in 1665 (bubonic plague) or even before when the first outbreak of the Plague hit England in the 1300's. The symptoms of the plague included a rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin (Ring around the rosy). Pockets and pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. The term "Ashes Ashes" refers to the cremation of the dead bodies! The death rate was over 60% and the plague was only halted by the Great Fire of London in 1666 which killed the rats which carried the disease which was transmitting via water sources. The English version of "Ring around the rosy" replaces Ashes with (A-tishoo, A-tishoo) as violent sneezing was another symptom of the disease.
Ring-a-Ring o'Rosies
A Pocket full of Posies
"A-tishoo! A-tishoo!"
We all fall Down!
| Camera: | cannon |
| Recording media: | JPEG (digital) |
| Title: | A Pocket of Posies |
| Username: | 
Paree |
| Uploaded: | 20 Jan 2008 - 5:50 PM |
| Tags: | Brass ornament, Digital art, Digitally manipulated, Fantasy, General, Nursery rhymes |
| VS Mode Rating |
98 (0% won) These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode |
| Votes: | 76 |
Comments
Maureen, this one is very special, and I think also my favorite in the series so far - you probably have some better ones up your sleeve though. Thanks for the commentary that follows each one - very interesting, and yes, they are quite macabre.
Anne
After all this time, we were singing about death on the school playground! Thanks for the awesome picture and description, so emotive.
This is brilliant - I'm a bit late onto it as the site was going deathly slow last night and I just gave up. But this is what I was hoping you would tackle. The break in the ring of children seems particularly telling.
Albert has mentioned Eyam, the 'plague village'. The primary school there has a wonderful wrought iron gate featuring the rhyme, it always makes me stop and think.
Moira
Smashing piece of work Maureen, and although I know the story behind this one, it still made interesting reading.
John 
Wow ,great read and fantastic image.
Only last week myself and Margaret were playing with our neice andwe were singing (or trying to ) sing some nursery rhymes and her older sister did not know half of them,,,well she new one or two by the time we left,,,,,Great work,keep it up.
This is really beautiful. it reminds me of Bjork's latest music video "earth intruders" simply inspired.
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