The popular nursery rhyme Ring a Ring o’ Roses has a disturbing historical origin. What was this?

Answer: The song refers to the Black Death plague of the Middle Ages. The ‘ring o’ roses’ refers to the red scarring caused by the disease. The ‘pocket full of posies’ in the rhyme refers to the flowers carried by people to hide the terrible smell that came from the sick and the dead.

Source: Green or Gone by David Shearman

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