Mary, Mary - Come on ?!?

Mary, Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And marigolds all in a row

Or…

Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row

Do you remember this one? They refer to it as a ‘nursery rhyme’...assuming that we need to teach it to our kids when they are young. What a thought that is. We taught our kids some weird stuff. Whatever way you remember this old nursery rhyme it still has more meaning than what we first read it.

This very likely refers to one or two Mary-s that once ruled England. The times that they lived in were nightmares for anyone wanting to celebrate their faith. If you were Catholic you were being taunted by those very odd Protestants. If you were Protestants you just had to make sure that Catholics never forgot your side’s victory – to make you feel good.

Whatever the actual facts, it seems to point to some terrible times that were harsh to say the least. A quote from Wikipedia, “Still, some argue that no proof has been found that the rhyme was known before the eighteenth century, while Mary I of England and Mary I of Scotland were contemporaries in the sixteenth century. Some historians suggest that the song was invented by Protestants and Anglicans to mock the reign of both Marys at the time or long afterwards.”

Our western world has a nefarious history to say the least. They were ‘ordinary people’, if taken out of their positions of power, but not so ordinary if left on their own – or promoted to leadership. No doubt the two Marys referred to had advisers that wanted things their way. Using their influence made sure that they would get their own way. In the case of the two Marys’ time – there was an attempt by the Catholic church to regain their control over a lost country – England. Go figure that must have hurt them deeply.

And if you remember your history of church you will remember that King Henry the VIII, wanted his way, the right to marry as many Marys as he wished to. He was a dirty and mean old man that wanted nothing more than to have no one to tell him what to do – especially a church leader – so he began his own religion and became the leader….but in the name of God or course.

You have to wonder what God thought of all of this. As I get to know more about Him I see few examples in my history books that demonstrated these leaders even knew who He was let alone did the ‘right things’ in His name.

Kind of like today – wouldn’t you say? Our middle east conflicts that rage in the name of Their God makes you wonder when any of us will ever get it right.

What is your idea of God? How do you know him?

For myself it seems so simple. God is giving me this day to try to get it right. Maybe just maybe, He will find someone today that will represent him without all that human stuff attached – you know self serving, angry, hateful, lustful, covetous and all that other lovely stuff that we try to justify in his name.

All I ask is that we think about how we live and then attempt to honor Him in something that we do today.

After all – Mary, Mary(the two of them) was contrary… so were the people that wrote the stupid verse.

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~

Resource...

Mary, Mary quite contrary – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Mary,_Quite_Contrary

Mary Mary Quite Contrary: origin
Nursery Rhyme Origins & History


The origins are steeped in history... Bloody Mary!
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is reputed to be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith - Protestant martyrs.

Instruments of Torture!
The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The 'silver bells' were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw. The 'cockleshells' were believed to be instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals!

The " Maids" or Maiden was the original guillotine!
The 'maids' were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. Margaret Pole (1473 - 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden - shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. The Maiden had long been in use in England before Lord Morton, regent of Scotland during the minority of James VI, had a copy constructed from the Maiden which had been used in Halifax in Yorkshire. Ironically, Lord Morton fell from favour and was the first to experience the Maiden in Scotland!

Executions!
Another form of execution during Mary's reign was being burnt at the stake - a terrible punishment much used during the Spanish Inquisition. The English hated the Spanish and dreaded the idea of an English Inquisition. The executions during the reign of Bloody Mary were therefore viewed with a greater fear of the Spanish than the executions themselves - it is interesting to note that executions during her reign totaled less than 300 an insignificant amount compared to the executions ordered by her father King Henry VIII which are believed to have numbered tens of thousands!