Of all nursery rhymes, I’ve always felt that this one had a touch of eerie-ness to it. I associate it to horror movies where children ghosts are involved. Imagining them, shiny white translucent figures, singing and playing at the abandoned playground, in the middle of the night. The wind blowing stongly, leaves rustling, the swing swinging with no one sitting on it. The children singing in their soft echoey voices, giggling as they all fall down. *shudders* eeek creepy.
So I did a bit of research to find out more about this nursery rhyme. And as it turns out, the association of horror to it has been developed by others a long time ago. Although most have argued that this supposed urban legend is not true, the creepy tale behind it sure does give the nursery rhyme character.
Ring a ring o’roses,
A pocketful of posies,
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo,
We all fall down
“Ring a Ring O’Roses” or “Ring Around the Rosie” is a nursery rhyme or folksong and playground game that first appeared in print in 1881 but was recited to the current tune at least as early as the 179os. Its origin is often mistakenly connected to the bubonic plague.
The words of Ring a Ring O’Roses differ by region, although the tune remains consistent. The playground game that accompanies these verses also changes by region, but the most common form consists of participants standing a circle and holding hands, followed by skipping in one direction as they sing the tune that accompanies these verses. At the end of the line We all fall down, the group usually falls down into a heap.
plague interpretation
A popular misinterpretation connects the poem with the Great Plague of London in 1665, or perhaps earlier outbreaks of bubonic plague in England; however, there is no evidence that Ring a Ring O’Roses and the plague were connected, until it was proposed in the 20th century. Regardless, this interpretation has entered into popular culture and is often used to reference the plague obliquely. This plague link seems to originate with the movement for finding origins of folk-songs, which was popular in the early 20th century. For example, according to the common forms of the plague interpretation, the ‘falling down’ has always involved dropping to the ground as the rhyme is recited, evoking the death from the plague. This conjecture has evolved into a complex explanation suggesting possible plague interpretations for every line.
According to this interpretation, the first line evokes the round red rash that would break out on the skin of plague victims. The second line’s “pocket full of posies” would have been a pocket in the garment of a victim filled with something fragrant, such as flowers that aimed to conceal the smell from the sores and the dying people. Alternatively it referred to the common belief that fresh-smelling flowers, nosegays, and pomanders would purify the air around them thus warding off disease as was believed from the miasma theory of disease . A third possibility includes the idea that “posies” are derived from an Old English word for pus, in which case the pocket would be referring to the swelling sore. Finally: “atishoo, atishoo,” the sneezing before “we all fall down”, the eventual succumbing to death.
European and 19th century versions of the rhyme suggest that this ‘fall’ was not a literal falling down, but a curtsy or other form of bending movement that was common in other dramatic singing games. Moreover, due to the wide variety of versions sharing the same dance and the same tune, the Opies and many scholars since conclude that the tune and the dance-game form the core of ‘Ring a Ring O’Roses’, rather than the words which are popular today. Before 1898 there appeared to be no English-language standardisation of the words, and Lady Gomme collected 12 versions of the game, only one of which is similar to the ones that are conjecturally linked to the plague.
The plague interpretation is generally considered by scholars to be completely baseless. It is first cited in 1951 by Peter Opie and Iona Opie. It thus forms an important reference for 20th and 21st century culture, but has never been authentically linked to any early version of the rhyme, and the evidence points strongly against it.
The US military has devised a way to ensure its troops in battle need never go hungry – with dried food that can be rehydrated using dirty water or urine. 
With the immediate fighting over, the warriors assemble back at agreed upon camps alongside a river away from the enemy’s territory. It is here that the head shrinking process begins. Now safe, the killer begins to work on the head. A slit is made in the neck and up the back of the head, allowing the skin and hair to be carefully peeled from the skull. The skull is then discarded into the river and left as a gift to the pani, the anaconda.
Although there were many headhunting cultures throughout the world, only one group was known for ancient practice of shrinking human heads (tsantsa). They were called the Jivaro clan who lived deep in the Ecuadorian, and neighboring Peruvian Amazon. The Jivaros are one of the most primitive societies that have caught the attention of the Western world because of their unusual customs. The Jivaroan tribes are comprised of four sub-tribes or dialect groups known to inhabit the tropical forest of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon. The AShuar, Aguaruna, Huambisa, and the Shuar. Of these, the Shuar, are most commonly referred to when speaking of the Jivaro Indians. The Shuar have achieved their notoriety through their customary practice of head-shrinking.
Most Jivaro Indians would consider any victory over the enemy as incomplete, and perhaps the whole war expedition a failure if they were unable to return without one or more trophies. Furthermore, possessing the tsantsa itself would benefit the warrior’s good fortune as well as please the spirits of his ancestors. The warrior could expect the spirits of their dead relatives to bestow them with good crops and fortune. Consequently, one could anticipate corresponding misfortune if their murders were not properly avenged. The Jivaros gave much more thought to the harm that might come to them through the ill will of the neglected dead relatives ghosts, than they did to the malevolent actions of enemy ghosts. More importantly, the reason behind the preparation of the tsantsa is to paralyze the spirit of the enemy attached to the head so that it cannot escape and take revenge upon the murderer. This also prevents the spirit or soul from continuing into the afterlife where it could harm dead ancestors. When the warrior kills his enemy, he is not only after the victim’s life, but more importantly he seeks to possess the victim’s soul. Acquiring trophies after a battle, was also an instrument of increasing a warrior’s own personal power, known as arutam. The idea behind killing the enemy and taking his head as a trophy, brings the victim’s arutam to the warrior. The power of the dead man’s soul is still considered dangerous to the victorious tribe and therefore the motive behind shrinking the head of the enemy is to conquer and destroy the spirit or soul.
As wars between tribal cultures were not instigated with the hope of acquiring additional territory, as soon as fighting was over, the victorious tribesmen made a hasty retreat. Superstitious fear and contempt of the enemy compelled the Jivaros to abandon the area quickly where they believed that secret supernatural dangers would threaten them after they had conquered their natural enemies.Should blood revenge have continued at the extreme rate of the early 1900’s, extermination was evident. Through the work of missionaries, the killing slowly subsided.
