Who Actually Were Jack and Jill?

This might be titled, everything I need to know about history I learned in kindergarten.  Last time I wrote about the significance of numbers in carols and songs.  This time I am following up with the significance behind nursery rhymes that some people (of a certain age) learned when they/we were young.  I don’t know if the newer generations, i.e. millennials, x, y - and whatever comes after that are still appreciative audiences for such things today.

So, with that let’s explore what lies behind some of the nursery rhymes that I remember.  One that is well known and people may know the backstory is Ring Around the Rosie.  One site on the web gives a good, succinct explanation of this happy little verse.   

the most popular contention is that the sing-songy verse refers to the 1665 Great Plague of London. “The rosie” is the rash that covered the afflicted, the smell from which they attempted to cover up with “a pocket full of posies.” The plague killed nearly 15 percent of the country’s population, which makes the final verse—“Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down”—rather self-explanatory.

The version I knew had hush-a, hush-a, rather than Ashes, Ashes, but that goes to show how this genre adapted and developed over many years.  Hush-a is much gentler than ashes, as it could be a lullaby encouraging children to go to sleep.

With that exploration of the great plague, let’s turn to Jack and Jill noted in the title of this exposition.  One possibility is that Jack and Jill are the rhyming representation of King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette of France.   Louis (Jack) certainly lost his crown by guillotine and Marie (Jill) came tumbling after.  Another possibility is that it is a reference to 17th-century king of England, Charles I. He attempted to increase taxes on alcohol, which were generally measured in units known as jacks and gills.  This did not turn out well for him as he shared the fate of Louis and Marie and lost his head. 

Let’s look at another favourite Baa, Baa Black Sheep.  You might have jumped to the conclusion that there was a racial connotation to this little ditty.  However, likely it refers to the Great Custom, a tax on wool that was introduced in 1275 in England. 

Okay, how about London Bridge is Falling Down.  That looks to be a flight of imagination about the famous bridge – or any bridge – falling down due to perhaps old age and disrepair.  Well, that’s not far from the truth.  It quite likely refers to the destruction of London Bridge at the hands of Olaf II of Norway in the early 1000s.  However, there is a question as to whether this actually took place so it could be anti-Norwegian propaganda or indoctrination of the young.

Let’s look at one more example in our exploration of history through nursery rhymes.  How many know the rhyme, Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (how does your garden grow).  How many of us have known a ‘Mary’ or perhaps anyone who was hard to get along with and perhaps took excessive pride in their gardening skills?  However, the rhyme does refer to another member of English royalty – Mary Queen of England – or Bloody Mary as she was (un)affectionately nicknamed.  Mary – a fervent Roman Catholic earned that nickname by her execution of Protestants in counter reformation fervor.  As one source noted “silver bells and cockle shells, in this understanding, are actually torture devices, not garden accouterments.” Contrary indeed. 

I hope you have enjoyed this little side trip into history via the vehicle of the lowly nursery rhyme.  If you are interested in exploring this in greater detail, there is lots of information available from our friend Google – but perhaps that friend is not always all it seems either.  Perhaps someone could write a modern nursery rhyme about Google or AI or any variation of social media – lots of juicy material there.  I hope I haven’t spoiled your favourite nursery rhyme but rather enriched it.  

To Catch a Falling Leaf

 I was sitting at the dining room table at home a little while ago, looking at the accumulating leaves that have fallen to date.  There are lots more to come.  A leaf caught my eye as it dropped from one of the trees and floated gently to the ground.  I mused that Fall is a much more descriptive name for the season than Autumn even if Autumn is more poetic for this loveliest of seasons in this part of the world.

That falling leaf brought back to mind a story which had been read to me in school when I was in grade five or six which is now many, many years ago.  It was a story of a boy who had been told that it was good luck to catch a falling leaf on your birthday, before it hit the ground.  Actually, I didn’t remember initially that this had to occur on the person’s birthday.  However, this came to mind after some cogitation on the story.  I couldn’t remember much more about it but turned to my good friend Google to see if I could get a hit on what I remembered of the plot.  Unfortunately, this is one of the infrequent times when Google didn’t come through.  I did, however, find out that catching a leaf before it hit the ground is a common theme in folklore.

One source https://hypnogoria.blogspot.com/2015/10/folklore-on-friday-autumn-leaves.html, noted that, “author WJC Murray recalled that as a small boy I had whimsically been taught that there was a magic in a falling leaf if you caught it before it touched the ground.”  The same source had the following reference:

In 1878, the Folklore Society was founded to study such matters, and indeed to preserve these kinds of traditions, songs and rhymes. And in their first year of operations their official journal records the common folk belief that If you catch a falling leaf, you will have twelve months of happiness. (Folk-Lore Record)

The same source notes that, “Children’s author Alison Uttley, in her memoir A Year in the Country (1957), recalls a more exacting version, ‘We try to catch a dancing leaf, for every leaf caught is a 'happy day', but how elusive they are, these fluttering alive things, which slip through the fingers and evade pursuit!’”

I would appear that the premise of the short story (which at this point must remain without a title or author), was grounded in a well-founded tradition that the act of catching a falling leaf before it reaches the ground is good luck.

This reminiscence is nice to explore.  However, what it has actually shown me is how much stories, that I was fortunate enough to have read to me in school and at home when I was growing up, were so very important to me and how much stories were part of my formation in my becoming the person I am today.  In my memory, there were many times in school that stories were read to me, many of which are recalled as this one was.  Of course, the three Rs were essential for my education, but more than anything academic I was taught, the stories were the most important part of my education.  I wonder if the curriculum in the school system allows for students to be read stories.  I suspect not given all the responsibilities that have been placed on that system these days.

In case you are wondering, in my memory, the young hero of the story manages to catch a leaf just as daylight was dying in the West and his birthday celebration came to a close. 

May you be blessed to catch a falling leaf and put it in your pocket or some other special place.