Common wisdom has long had it that the children's game "Ring Around the Rosies" originated at the time of the Plague, circa 1665 in London.
Scholars question that interpretation.
According to James FitzGerald, as discussed by Stephen Winick in the journal "Folklife Today," it's a "singing-game or a play-party song," which are what children’s dance songs are called. Some theorists say it’s possible that the plague was the original reason that children started repeating the rhyme but there is no evidence for that theory.
Regardless of when children started playing it, the game certainly has some strangely relevant imagery that resonates in a time when over 1.2 million people around the world have just fallen dead.
You have to wonder what kinds of social customs and cultural artifacts will emerge from this pandemic. Mask-wearing certainly stands to become more common as it has long been in China.
I've argued ("The Unmasked Man") that men may have trouble with masks having to do with our sense of masculinity. (It would be easier if we were on a horse chasing a stagecoach.) But many women may adapt more easily to this cover-up, and adjust to the new fashion with other, compensatory choices in clothing.
There is an art to the wearing of a mask, and it certainly can be seductive in some circumstances. At the same time, unmasking may become a form of flirtation like running your fingers through your long hair.
What would be unfortunate will be if people start to be more suspicious of strangers. In Afghanistan, whenever a new person shows up in a village, they are called غریب, which translates variously as stranger, wanderer, or most notably as foreigner.
That sense, that someone you don't know is foreign, contains nuances of both danger and excitement.
In Afghan towns, the first person to approach a "foreigner" is often a social outsider himself. Therefore Peace Corps trainers cautioned us about becoming too close to such persons, less we limit our ability to fit more broadly into the local social scene.
In America these days, in the neighborhoods where I walk, people cross the street rather than encounter each other at close quarters.
I tend to smile at strangers, but it is hard to smile through a mask, so I have taken to nodding. Some people nod back. Many don't.
As to what else we are losing, what was the last time you had a hug? Those of us who like to hug other people are suffering withdrawal symptoms for sure. I guess we're supposed to be satisfied with just hugging ourselves.
What is the sound of one person hugging?
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Enough for philosophy and history, the news headlines await:
* Far-right protesters, counterdemonstrators plan to gather Saturday in D.C. amid pro-Trump rallies (WashPo)
* Trump, fresh off his reelection loss to President-elect Biden, remains angry that an announcement about coronavirus vaccine progress came after Election Day and spends most of his time watching TV. Aides say the president has shown little interest in the growing crisis, even as new cases skyrocket and hospital intensive care units in parts of the country near capacity. (AP)
* Trump lauded progress being made on coronavirus vaccine candidates on Friday, and ignored surging virus rates across the country. At the same event, Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged the increase. (NYT)
* Nigeria Goes on Offensive Against Youth Protesting Police Brutality -- Young people staged the biggest anti-government uprising in a generation, triggered by relentless police brutality. Rattled, politicians are promising reforms, but using repressive tactics, large and small. (NYT)
* Measles Deaths Soared Worldwide Last Year, as Vaccine Rates Stalled (NYT)
* China finally congratulates Joe Biden, Kamala Harris on election victory (WashPo)
* The 2020 presidential election was the “most secure in American history,” a group of top security and election officials at the Department of Homeland Security wrote, contradicting Trump’s falsehoods about voter fraud. The group's head, Christopher Krebs, told associates he expects Trump will now fire him. [HuffPost]
* Russia has escalated its provocative encounters in the North Pacific this year, harassing boats in U.S. fishing waters and sending bombers toward Alaska’s shores. (NYT)
* Afghans fear the Taliban are subverting the peace process, and hope a Biden administration will bring more accountability. (NYT)
* S.Korea fines those who don't wear masks (NHK)
* As the president-elect begins making personnel choices, the left of the Democratic Party is demanding ethics rules that would ban lobbyists and some consultants. (NYT)
* Midwest faces a ‘catastrophic’ lack of hospital beds as number of coronavirus cases surges (WashPo)
* California’s Coronavirus Caseload: 1 Million and Counting. California is the second state, after Texas, to reach one million coronavirus cases. If California were a country it would have slightly fewer cases per person than France or Brazil but nearly three times the levels of Germany. (NYT)
* Biden reaffirmed his commitment to raise America’s annual refugee admissions target to 125,000, reviving a program that endured deep, historic cuts under the Trump administration. “The U.S. has long stood as a beacon of hope for the downtrodden and oppressed, a leader in resettling refugees, in our humanitarian response,” Biden said. (HuffPost)
* The final electoral margin was Biden 306, Trump 232. Biden leads the popular vote by 5.3 million+. (DW)
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NOTE: Kate Greenaway’s Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes (1881) was the first publication of “Ring Around the Rosie” in English. Her illustration was published in 1881 and is therefore in the public domain. (Library of Congress)
A pocket full of posies
A tissue, a tissue
We all fall down
To fetch a pail of water
A tissue, a tissue
We all fall down
Is singing to the people
A tissue, a tissue
We all fall down
The boys and girls are singing
A tissue, a tissue
We all fall down
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