Is the Childrens Game Ring Around the Rosy Really Referring to the Black Plague?
It is commonly believed that the child’s game and rhyme, Ring around the Rosy, refers to the bubonic plague. This allegation has never been proven. The song Ring around the Rosy didn’t appear in print until the 19th century. Of course, it may have been sung or played much earlier. Accounts of Ring around the Rosy connect it to elements that suggest the plague, and are often explained as the attempt of folklorists to find real world or historical explanations for certain songs and folklore tradition.
