I don't know if this is true, but I read it somewhere...
That the possible origin and meaning of the nursery rhyme.
That the Mary in the rhyme was Bloody Mary, eldest daughter of Henry VIII.
She was called 'Bloody Mary' because of persecution and executions of many protestants.
The garden is said to refer to the grave yard of all her victims.
The cockle shells and silver bells to the instruments of torture that were used, and pretty maids all in a row was a device used to behead people.
It is also said that Three Blind Mice is also about Bloody Mary.
Even if it not true, interesting theories.
huh, I have never heard that before but it kinda makes sense. I wonder how many others this applies to... experiences existential crises
upvoted resteemed.... I know that "ring around the rosey" has a dark deadly past, something about the plague?
Ring-a-ring of Roses, a pocket full of posies, atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down...
One of the symptoms of the plague was the sense of smell detected roses. That was a sign you'd got it.
They kept pockets full of posies to try to ward off either the smell of death or the plague itself - I doubt it worked for either.
Once you'd got the smell of roses, you were going to be falling down pretty shortly.
Exam in Derbyshire is famous... I might do a post about it.
Oh... and Resteemed!
I heard of this before a few years ago. These old nursery rhymes were actually code saying things in private that would get a person executed if they said them plainly in public. Probably a lot of truth in your article.