We’re taught nursery rhymes as children, and convinced that these simple songs are nonsensical fun, but many of them go much deeper than just a Mother Goose story.

Many nursery rhymes originated in Europe, developed with hidden meanings and origins. For example, Ring around the Roses tells a gruesome tale.

Remember joining hands and singing, “Ring around the roses, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down.” Usually at that point, everyone falls down together laughing, but the rhyme itself is actually talking about the bubonic plague in the 1300’s. The “pockets full of posies” refers to how people would fill their pockets with posies, or sweetly smelling flowers, to get rid of the horrible scent of death around them. “We all fall down” spoke about how nobody was immune.

Another nursery rhyme with a dark past is London Bridge is Falling Down. There are many theories regarding the history behind this tune. One focuses on child sacrifice. Basically, some people believed that, in order for the bridge to stay up, a child would need to be buried in the foundations of the tower. In 1967, when the bridge was moved to Lake Havasu in Arizona, there are no human remains found, but the song – and the bridge – is older than that. Another more plausible theory is where the brigade was burning down in 1633, and the Londoners were concerned about keeping the bridge spanning across the Thames.

Some schools have banned both of the nursery rhymes because of their hidden meanings. Other schools decide to change the lyrics.

To find out more about the stories behind some of your favorite nursery rhymes, check out www.shorturl.at/wHIJU.