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Nursery Rhymes

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Nursery Rhymes- The Origin
What do I say about nursery rhymes?
We have grown up reciting them. They were and are an important part of our childhood. We sung them during class, at home, in front of guests, in the playground and a lot of us sing them even today.
Nursery rhymes were like the first form of music that we learnt and to a 3 year old, I bet they are like the Beatles or ABBA or even Taylor Swift!
But, recently, I have been wondering whether or rather WHAT these rhymes mean because, to me, they all sound pretty destructive.
We sing about children breaking their heads, lying and laughing about it and weird eggs falling off walls (well, nowhere is it written that humpty dumpty was an egg, but that’s another topic all together).
Anyway, so I decided to look it up. I decided to find out from where these nursery rhymes originated and what they mean…
Oh! And what I read, well, it was shocking.
Apparently, most of the rhymes were originated centuries ago and were used as a mode of free speech by many. They would write these rhymes to criticize the political scenes of the time as open criticism would get them killed.
Hence obviously they don’t mean happy and joyous things. But, it makes me sad to think that little children sing about such violence.
Ill tell you about the meanings of a few commonly sung rhymes across the globe…
1. Jack and Jill-
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
A rhyme EVERY child knows… according to many sites, Jack is a reference to King Louis XVI and Jill stands for Queen Marie Antoinette. In 1793, Louis XVI was beheaded during the infamous Reign of Terror. Therefore the line “broke his crown (head)”. What followed was Queen Antoinette’s beheading. Hence, “Jill came tumbling after”.
Well, even if this ISN’T the real story behind the rhyme, WHY would we want little children to read a rhyme about a young boy sustaining a head injury?

2. Ring a Rong O’ Roses-
Ring a rong o’ roses,
Pocket full of poses.
Ashes ashes,
We all fall down!
Now do you really want your child dancing to a song about the bubonic plague?!
I t was also known as the great plague that took place in London in the 1660’s. The symptoms were red, ring like rashes on the skin and people stuffed their pockets with fresh smelling flowers (poses) as they believed that the infection spread due to bad smell.
The last two lines refer to the death and cremation of the thousands and thousands affected by the plague.

3. Goosy Goosy Gander-
Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs. This was related to the rivalry between the Protestants and the Catholics. It is said that if the Catholic priests were found saying the prayers ‘Their’ way, which is in Latin, they would be executed. According to the Protestants, the ONLY way of saying one’s prayers was in English.
I really don’t get why children are singing about such things? Anyway…

4. Three blind mice-
Three blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run, see how they run,
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a thing in your life,
As three blind mice?
This poem too has a very sad origin. The farmer’s wife was supposed to be the daughter of King Henry VIII, Queen Mary I. Mary was a staunch Catholic and her violent prosecutions of the protestants, led to her name ‘Bloody Mary’.
Here, the reference ‘Farmer’s wife’ is used, as she and her husband, King Philip of Spain, possessed a massive estate.
The ‘Three blind mice’ were three noblemen who adhered to the Protestant faith who were convicted of plotting against the Queen who had had them burnt at the stake.

Another poem with the reference to ‘Bloody Mary’ is ‘Mary Mary Quite Contrary’…

5. Mary Mary Quite Contrary-
Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw. The 'cockleshells' were believed to be instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals!
Also, the maids mentioned, refers to the maiden, originally known as the guillotine.
Oh I can go on and on about the terrible stories behind a million other poems….
Now, honestly, is THIS what we want children singing merely about?
I agree that they might not know the hidden meaning, but never the less; all these poems are quite disturbing.
As I mentioned earlier, Nursery Rhymes were used as a mode of free speech. But also, many a times, they were used to teach kids lessons. Or rather, scare them into doing what they are told. You might wonder why the rhymes were so different, but these were used to describe life back then, and that is just the way life was.
Decapitations were common and plagues ran rampant. The child mortality rate of just a couple hundred years ago was forty percent. Life was riddled with frequent morbidity back then, so why wouldn't their nursery rhymes be too?
But times have changed. The story behind these rhymes or the lessons they taught back then isn’t relevant now. Children, today, don’t bother with the teachings of the rhymes, do they?
How many children do you know who actually think that the rhymes are teaching them some kind of a moral lesson?
Stories, yes! If you ask them the moral of a story, you are sure to get an answer. But try asking them the moral of a rhyme…
I am not saying that teaching nursery rhymes is bad. Many psychologists say that rhymes help children develop their vocabulary, reading skills and phonemic awareness.
Well, what I AM saying is that, personally, I believe, that most of the nursery rhymes taught to children are rather scary and nasty.
Vocabulary, reading skills and phonemic awareness can be taught by singing other, less destructive rhymes as well, right? One doesn’t HAVE to sing about plagues and executions, do they?

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