The rhyme was first recorded by James Orchard Halliwell as an English children's game in the mid-nineteenth century. He noted that there was a similar game with the lyrics "Here we go round the bramble bush". The bramble bush may be an earlier version, possibly changed because of the difficulty of the alliteration, since mulberries do not grow on bushes. Halliwell said subsequent verses included: "This is the way we wash our clothes", "This is the way we dry our clothes", "This is the way we mend our shoes", "This is the way the gentlemen walk" and "This is the way the ladies walk". The song and associated game is traditional, and has parallels in Scandinavia and in the Netherlands. Local historian R. S. Duncan suggests that the song originated with female prisoners at HMP Wakefield. A sprig was taken from Hatfeild Hall in Stanley, Wakefield, and grew into a fully mature mulberry tree around which prisoners exercised in the moonlight.. The mulberry tree died during 2017 and was cut down and removed on 7 May 2019. Cuttings were taken during the 1980s and have grown into mature trees. Further cuttings taken from these trees will be replanted at HMP Wakefield to replace the mulberry tree. The Christmas carol, "As I Sat on a Sunny Bank", collected by Cecil Sharp in Worcestershire, has a very similar melody; as does the related "I Saw Three Ships." Another possible interpretation of the rhyme is that it references Britain's struggles to produce silk, mulberry trees being a key habitat for the cultivation of silkworms. As Bill Bryson explains, Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries tried to emulate the success of the Chinese in silk production but the industry was held back by periodic harsh winters and mulberry trees proved too sensitive to frost to thrive. The traditional lyrics "Here we go round the mulberry bush / On a cold and frosty morning" may therefore be a joke about the problems faced by the industry.
Game and song
The simple game involves holding hands in a circle and moving around to the first verse, which is alternated with the specific verse, where the players break up to imitate various appropriate actions. A variant of this rhyme is "Nuts in May", sharing the tune as well as the traditional closing line "On a cold and frosty morning".
