What historic event does the nursery rhyme Ring-a-ring of roses commemorate?
Ring a Ring o' Roses Ring a Ring o' Roses "Ring a Ring o' Roses" or "Ring a Ring o' Rosie" is a nursery rhyme or folksong and playground singing game. It first appeared in print in 1881, but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s and similar rhymes are known from across Europe. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925. Urban legend says the song originally described the plague, specifically the Great Plague of London, or the Black Death, but folklorists reject this idea. It is unknown what the earliest version
Ring a Ring o' Roses Peter and Iona Opie, the leading authorities on nursery rhymes, remarked: The line "Ashes, Ashes" in colonial versions of the rhyme is claimed to refer variously to cremation of the bodies, the burning of victims' houses, or blackening of their skin, and the theory has been adapted to be applied to other versions of the rhyme. In its various forms, the interpretation has entered into popular culture and has been used elsewhere to make oblique reference to the plague. Folklore scholars regard the theory as baseless for several reasons: Ring a Ring o' Roses "Ring a Ring o' Roses" or