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Author
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Comment
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amyhanderson
Registered User
(2/26/05 10:18 am)
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dandelions
A friend was telling me about a childhood rhyme that she used to say before destroying dandelions. I will write out that part of it she told me and anyone with any information about it, especially when it came about and where it came from would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Amy A
Here is the saying:
Mama had a baby and it's head popped off.
(Then you proceed to break the dandelion flower off it's stem.)
Edited by: amyhanderson at: 2/26/05 10:22 am
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darklingthrush
Registered User
(2/26/05 10:36 am)
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Re: dandelions
Hmm I used to do this as well but then again I used to plainly avoid stepping on cracks in the sidewalk b/c of the old rhyme "step on a crack, break your mama's back."
But then I always liked using dandelions to discover if anyone loved butter. Supposedly if you put the dandelion under someone's chin and it reflected on their skin bright yellow, the person loved butter. Why this is so fascinating as a child, I honestly don't remember. Now that I think about it, according to that test everyone I knew loved butter.
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(2/26/05 10:58 am)
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Re: dandelions
My brother and I chanted this while beheading dandelions, too. I don't know the origin, and I'm away from the library for a few days, but my gut reaction is to send you to the books of Iona and Peter Opie, who write about the folklore of children. (If you've already looked into the Opies for this, just ignore me.) Here are a few of their books:
The Lore and Language of School-Children
Children's Games with Things
People in the Playground (I think Iona Opie authored this one alone)
Best,
Erica
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Random
Registered User
(2/26/05 11:01 am)
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re: dandelions
I remember that phrase... sometimes we would say it before kicking the heads off dandelions. I never liked it, myself. It was a bit grim. I can't tell you anything about it, though. It was just something people thought was funny to say.
As to the "butter" test, I was taught to do that by my mom, only we used buttercups, not dandelions.
Then there's the dandelion clocks, where every puff that it takes to blow the seeds off a white dandelion seedhead counted for an hour. When I did it, it always ended up being three o'clock. :b
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Elizabeth Genco
Registered User
(2/26/05 11:09 am)
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Re: re: dandelions
I remember that chant as well. And the butter thing (we used buttercups too, not dandelions).
Children's rhymes and games is another area of fascination that
I haven't really had time to check out yet. Folktrax
has some great field recordings of British Isles schoolchildren
in their collection. Peter Opie contributed to at least one
of them.
(In other non-news, I could spend about a frillion dollars on Folktrax recordings...)
---
What's that fiddle player in the subway thinking
about?
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(2/26/05 2:34 pm)
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Re: dandelions
In the part of England where I live we tell the time with dandelion clocks but no-one would ever pick the flower off a dandelion because if you do you'll wet the bed!
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rosyelf
Registered User
(2/26/05 3:47 pm)
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dandelions
The connection of dandelions to bedwetting is interesting, as dandelions can actually be used in herbal medicine as a diuretic. Also, the common French word for this flower is "pissenlit", literally, "wet-the-bed."( I believe there are quite a few regional words in Britain which echo this idea.) For once, I must say that the English word is preferable to the French-having said that, it is actually derived from French -"dents de lion" because the petals are perceived as ressembling the teeth of a lion, presumably ?
best wishes to all,
rosyelf
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GailS
Unregistered User
(2/26/05 4:56 pm)
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Morels
Found a garden reference to dandelions as “poor man’s morels.”
Take just the flowers of opened (but not dried so they can be "blown") dandelions. Rinse them well. (DON'T use any that might even have been sprayed.) While they're still damp from the rinsing, dredge them in flour and sauté them in butter. Remember; take only the flower heads, no stems.
Don't know, but maybe this is a teaching verse, designed to remind someone to take only the flower head. It would make it not QUITE so gruesome. The baby is the tender, young flower head.
Mamma had a baby and its head popped off! Then, you pull the flower head off between two fingers.
GailS
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LilyAyl
Registered User
(3/2/05 8:48 pm)
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Re: Morels
We would say that verse, but would actually make the dandelion's head pop off by holding the flower in one hand with the head only above the fist and with your thumb under the head. "Momma had a baby and its head popped off." Raise your thumb quickly and the flower head goes flying. Then we'd slice the stems and dunk them in water to watch them curl.
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