Ring Around the Roses Lyrics

Ring a-round the roses,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down!
Alternates/History:
There are many different alternates to this rhyme; the rhyme above is the most modern version.
A more traditional version goes:
Ring-a-ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies,
Achoo!, Achoo!
We all fall down.
This innocent sounding rhyme, first appearing in the 1881 book Mother Goose, is actually a much older chant that goes back to the 1660s and is thought to be about the Plague of London which killed 70,000 of the 460,000 residents. "Ring-a-ring o' roses" refers to the rosy colored rash one would get. An early symptom of the plague.
"Pocket full of posies" refers to the medicine and herbs people carried in their pockets to prevent the plague.
"Achoo! Achoo! We all fall down" are the last sneezes of the person and collapse of one who had died.

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