"Ring Around the Rosy" is a song and dance performed by children holding hands and forming a circle. Everyone involved sings the words while moving in a circular motion and falls down when the rhyme comes to an end.
"Ring Around the Rosy" first appeared in the 1881 edition of Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose. Children most likely performed it before then, but its exact date of origin is unclear.
There is a popular misconception that the rhyme has to do with the bubonic plague. In 1961, James Leasor made this connection in his book "The Plague and the Fire." Folklorists find this hard to believe due to the late appearance of the rhyme and because the "symptoms" described don't necessarily match up to those experienced by plague sufferers.
According to Philip Hiscock, archivist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive, "Ring Around The Rosy" most likely derives from a 19th century Protestant play-party game.
There are many variations of the title and lyrics of "Ring Around the Rosy" due to people passing it around from country to country over the centuries.