Nursery rhymes

Category: Books sutras and myths

The term nursery rhyme is used for traditional poems and songs “for young children” in Britain and many other countries, but the term nursery rhyme only dates from the late 18th/early 19th century, and these rhymes are anything but for the nursery.

Most of the rhymes [but not all] date much farther back than when they were recorded and were an oral mechanism of recording ancient truths that needed to be couched in symbolic language. There is a strong connection between nursery rhymes and Circus, as well as Mummers plays, Morris dancing, Alchemism, plus a host of other mechanisms that all aimed to protect those who tried to maintain the old mystic and spiritual beliefs in the face of religious opposition.

“Many nursery rhymes have been argued to have hidden meanings and origins. John Bellenden Ker (?1765–1842), for example, wrote four volumes arguing that English nursery rhymes were actually written in 'Low Saxon'.... He then 'translated' them back into English, revealing in particular a strong tendency to anti-clericalism”.

All nursery rhymes have a strong rhythmic swing to them – and are thus useful in the activities related to listening to beating sounds. They are also full of symbolic meaning, almost every line contains symbolic references, meaning that a set of related symbols can indeed be taught to both children and adults - the rhyme keeps the tradition going in a memorable entertaining way, whilst the verbal explanation can be kept a secret.

Nursery rhymes also go hand in hand with fables, and myths in this respect. Cinderella, the Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Jack and the Beanstalk are also all spiritual in essence, as is Aladdin. To this we can thus add Pantomine as a key preserver of truths.

Observations

For iPad/iPhone users: tap letter twice to get list of items.

• A Farmer went trotting
• Baa baa black sheep
• Cock a doodle
• Girls and boys come out to play
• Goosey goosey gander
• Hark, hark
• Hey diddle diddle
• Hickory dickory dock
• Humpty Dumpty
• Hush a bye baby
• In marble halls as white as milk
• Jack and Jill
• Jack Sprat
• King's cross
• Lavender's blue
• Little Bo-Peep
• Little Jack Horner
• Little Miss Muffet
• London Bridge is falling down
• Mary had a little lamb
• Mary, Mary quite contrary
• Monday's child
• Nursery rhymes and out of body
• Old Mother Hubbard
• One two buckle my shoe
• Oranges and lemons
• Pat a cake pat a cake
• Polly put the kettle on
• Ride a cock horse
• Ring o ring o roses
• Rock a bye baby
• See Saw Marjory Daw
• Simple Simon
• Sing a song of sixpence
• Six little mice
• The Big Ship Sails
• The Grand old Duke of York
• The Lion and the Unicorn
• The North Wind doth blow
• There was a crooked man
• There was a little girl
• There was an old woman
• This is the house that Jack built
• Three Blind Mice
• Tom Tom the Piper's son
• Twelve drummers drumming
• Twinkle twinkle little star
• Wee willie winkie
• What are little boys made of
• Who Killed Cock Robin
• With lullay lullay like a child