What Is the Origin of Children's Ring Games?

Ring games have been in existence for at least 200 years. The origins of such games are the subject of debate among folklorists.

Features

In a ring game, children form a circle, chant rhymes and move around in a pattern. These movements often include running, walking, crouching, jumping and falling down.

Nursery Rhymes

Many of these nursery rhymes, detailed on Rhymes.org, carry forward versions of historical events or cultural traditions and are several hundred years old.

Plagues

Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Todd Huffman

Most of the commonly believed origins of these ring games, in particular the games Ring-Around-The-Rosie and London Bridge, point to horrid tales depicting gruesome deaths by plagues and human sacrifice.

Myths

Modern folklorists, such as Magistra Nicolaa de Bracton, have claimed most of these explanations are myths, not because they lack plausibility, but rather because the theories have no record before 1961 and the earliest versions of the rhymes do not describe these events at all.

Ban on Dancing

According to folklorist Philip Hiscock, the origins of ring games are based in the religious dislike of dancing in the 19th century. Children devised "play parties," which were much like square dances without the music, as a way around this ban.

References

• Nursery Rhymes - Lyrics, Origins & History!
• The "Real" Meaning of "Ring Around the Rosie"
• Said and Done, Philip Hiscock

Resources

• Snopes
• American Children's Folklore