What is ” A pocket full of posies atishoo atishoo we all fall down” mean?
They were singing about the Black Plague. “A pocket full of posies” referred to the common belief in that day that if you carried posies or some other fragrant flower in your pocket, that the good smell would keep the “evil spirits” that produced the sickness away. “Ring a ring of rosies” (the original version said ‘ring a ring of rosies’) referred to the heating of a small glass (like a shot glass) that was then put directly on the skin where a boil was coming up in order to pull the poison out or draw it out like a salve. “We all fall down” was a reference to the fact that most, if not all, who came in contact with someone who was sick you fell down dead within a matter of days.
