Ring around the Rosey

"Ring around the rosey" is a nursery rhyme and a game that we grew up with but do we know the origins of the rhyme?

The poem dates back to around the first Black Death in 1347. The first line is, "Ring around the Rosey," talks about the swelling on a lymph node called a bubo which looks like a ring. The center goes black and makes a rosey.

The victims would stick so healthy people would bring them a "Pocket full of posies."

The original third line is "Atch chew! Atch chew!" This was changed in America to "Ashes! Ashes!" so people thought it was tied to cremation but instead goes to the next symptom the victim would have, a sneezing fit.

Of course the last line, "we all fall down!," eludes the final stage of the victim dying from their affliction.