...are they Morbid?
...or perhaps they are just another way to preserve history.
Ring around the rosy - A pocketful of posies - "Ashes, Ashes"- We all fall down!
Sounds cute enough, just remember the ashes they speak of are cremated bodies.
YUKK!
This rhyme come from the Great bubonic plague era caused by rats that were polluting the water systems with the disease. The pockets full of posie is in reference to the pouches people carried with sweet smelling herbs ( or posies) which were carried due to the belief that the disease was transmitted by bad smells. 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.
Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To get her poor doggie a bone,
When she got there The cupboard was bare So the poor little doggie had none.
Appears to be talking about a very poor woman correct??? Wrong!! There was more to this
old woman than many think.
The Old Mother Hubbard referred to in this rhyme's words allude to the famous Cardinal Wolsey. The Cardinal displeased the King, Henry VIII, by failing to facilitate the King's divorce from Queen Katherine, to enable him to marry Anne Boleyn with whom he was passionately in love. Actually King Henry VIII was the "doggie" and the "bone" refers to the divorce (and not money as many believe) The cupboard relates to the Catholic Church although the subsequent divorce arranged by Thomas Cramner resulted in the break with Rome and the formation of the English Protestant church and the demise of Old Mother Hubbard.
Mary Mary quite contrary,How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells And pretty maids all in a row.
Seems simple enough, the lady loved flowers. Nope, unless you mean burial
wreaths.
The Mary alluded to is Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith. The silver bells and cockle shells were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'maids' were a device to behead people similar to the guillotine.
Those are just a few rhymes with hidden meanings for you, there are many more.
This definitely adds meaning to "There's more
to it than what you see"
