Rock-a-bye baby

Old historical and magickal knowledge, hidden in plain sight, within a whimsical lullaby.

Nursery rhymes, just like other folklore, all carry deep meaning.

We often dismiss them as merely childhood rhymes and the stuff of school yard games, but the truth is, they were never really intended for children, but were instead a verbal type of folklore, a method of passing on useful knowledge, practises and history across time.

So what are the real origins of rock-a-bye-baby?

The rhyme we all probably know goes as follows;

“Rock a bye baby on the tree top,

When the wind blows the cradle will rock.

When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,

And down will come baby, cradle and all.”

The first edition of this rhyme is believed to have first appeared in 1763 in the pages of “Mother Goose’s Melody”, a compendium of rhymes and short verses, but sadly none of these early editions have survived.  Even at this point though, the rhyme was still already very old!

In the second edition in 1791, the rhyme seems the same apart from the word “rock-a-bye-baby” has changed to “hush-a-bye baby”.

However, before this second edition, a similar version appeared in another publication in 1784 called “Gamer Gurton’s Garland”. This version gives an intriguing twist and harks back to much earlier times. In this version the rhyme reads as;

“Bee Baw Babby Lou, on a tree top,

When the wind blows the cradle will rock.

When the wind ceases the cradle will fall, down comes baby and cradle and all.”

This version holds a veiled threat!

It’s actually a corruption of old French.

The first line “bee baw babby lou” actually should say “bee baw la le loup” meaning “Hush! There’s the wolf!”

This rhyme is about a nurse or mother’s threat towards a persistently crying baby, who she’s warning to quieten down or be fed to a hungry wolf who is pacing just outside the door. As the baby quietens down, the wolf listens as the nurse tells the baby that as they’ve become quiet, if the wolf comes for the baby, they’ll protect him, by beating the wolf to death.

The disappointed - and still hungry - wolf then vanishes into the woods, moaning to himself about not trusting people who say one thing yet mean another.

There is another theory about the rhyme and it having a connection to the Ancient Egyptian worship of Horus and the connection to the Egyptian tree of life.

There are some old writings which seem to suggest that the symbolism of the baby in the tree, actually refers to the Egyptian sycamore tree, and it being the “cradle of life” for the sun god Horus.

It is true that within Egyptian mythology there are references to the sycamore tree being the cradle of life, and of it defining the boundaries and connection between the world of the living and the realm of the dead and the afterlife.

The sycamore tree does hold profound symbolism in Egyptian hieroglyphics,  as being the gateway between worlds, and the symbolism in the rhyme could refer to the baby, Horus, descending from the realm of the gods to the earth, essentially “falling” from the cradle of all life in the cosmos.

It also holds deep symbolism about the “fall of mankind” with the tree representing the tree in the garden of Eden, and the loss of innocence leading to the fall of humankind.

Another example of real history being woven into these rhymes comes from 17th Century America, where the native Americans cared for their babies using “cradle boards”, a flat wooden padded board, the baby would be wrapped in swaddling before they were then suspended from the boughs of trees, in order to be gently swayed to sleep by the wind.

The rhyme however may well be a political commentary of the monarchy in England in the 1600s!

During this time, Charles II of England died leaving the throne to his brother James.

James was a staunch Catholic and sought to shift the then mostly Protestant faith to convert back to Catholicism. This wasn’t popular and cast a shadow over the country.

James, as King, began to give Catholics high office over Protestants, and this caused outrage. He pushed for religious tolerance and this led to him having two rebellions led against him.

In June 1688, James' wife, Queen Mary, delivered a son. This caused huge uproar as until now James and Mary had only daughters, who on the order of King Charles, had been realised as Protestants. But now with a male Catholic heir to the throne, things were about to change.

This created widespread fear across the country with prominent and outspoken Protestants even stating that the new prince was illegitimate.

This may have been where the true and sinister origins of the rhyme comes in.

Nursery rhymes, at the time, were often the domain of taverns and ale houses, sung by drunken and disgruntled citizens. It seems that this rhyme may have actually been a veiled threat, and intention for the death of the newborn prince, and with his death, the lineage of King James rule be brought to an end, and thereby save the country from a lasting Catholic rule.

The tree represents the family tree and the baby “falling” from the tree as him dropping out of the family line and ending the Catholic rule.

With the birth of the baby, prominent Protestants wrote to William, Prince of Orange - and the son-in law to James - to come to England to safeguard the Protestant faith.

William responded swiftly, with a huge army just five months later. James knew he was out numbered and public opinion of him was low, so he fled to France. Parliament - then seeing this as James' abdication - declared his Protestant daughter Mary as the new monarch, with her husband, now King William, thus safeguarding England’s Protestant rule.

Whichever version is true, one thing is for certain, by digging into our nursery rhymes, and folklore, we uncover a treasure trove of secret knowledge about who we are and where we came from.

We unlock the magick of our past.

For more musings, why not join our Facebook group 'Beneath the Canopy'?