|
Traditional Nursery Rhyme
"Ladybug, ladybug" is
chanted by children when a
ladybug insect lands on
their person. If the ladybug
doesn't fly away of its own
accord the child would
gently blow it away chanting
"Ladybug Ladybug fly away
home". This insect is found
every summer in the gardens
of Britain - the most common
colour is red with black
spots, less common are the
yellow variety. In Britain
ladybugs are referred to as
'ladybirds'.
Ladybird History
Connection - Gunpowder
Plot Conspirators?
Farmers knew of the
Ladybird's value in
reducing the level of
pests in their crops and
it was traditional for
them to cry out the
rhyme before they burnt
their fields following
harvests (this reduced
the level of insects and
pests) in deference to
the helpful ladybird:
"Ladybird, ladybird fly
away home,
Your house in on fire
and your children are
gone"
The English word
ladybird is a
derivative of the
Catholic term " Our
Lady". The tradition
of calling this
rhyme was believed
to have been used as
a seemingly innocent
warning cry to
Catholic (recusants)
who refused to
attend Protestant
services as required
by the Act of
Uniformity (1559 &
1662). This law
forbade priests to
say Mass and forbade
communicants to
attend it.
Consequently Mass
was held secretly in
the open fields.
Laymen were subject
to jail and heavy
fines and priests to
execution. Many
priests were
executed by the
terrible death of
being burnt alive at
the stake or, even
worse, being hung,
drawn and quartered.
The most famous
English recusants
were
Guy Fawkes and
the Gunpowder Plot
Conspirators.
The American Version of
the Lyrics
It is possible that the
word Ladybird was exchanged
for Ladybug, in the American
version of the nursery
rhyme, due the word
association with Firebug
meaning an arsonist or
pyromaniac. The first
publication date was 1865
and the word ladybird was
used as opposed to ladybug.
There has been some
speculation that this
Nursery Rhyme originates
from the time of the Great
Fire of London in 1666. |
