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When the Bubonic Plague overtook Europe years ago,the dead bodies needed to be cremated because 60% of the population was affected! One symptom of the plague was a rosy colored rash that appeared as a ring on the skin. That is where the first line of the nursery rhyme comes from. Posies were the sweet smelling herbs that folks carried in their pockets to fight the terrible smell of the disease, which they superstitiously believed was carried by bad smell. Today children sing this little nursery rhyme while holding hands in a ring and then falling down at the end of it. I know as a child I had no idea of this little song's origin.
A funny anecdote about my daughter. When she was very young, she had a speech problem and had difficulty pronouncing many sounds. On the public bus one day she was chanting loudly: ASSES ASSES. I was horrified and made her be quiet. Later that week I saw her twirling outside and falling down as she said those words. I then realized she had been trying to say Ashes Ashes!