Pease Porridge Hot

"Pease Porridge Hot"
Music from The Song Play Book.
Nursery rhyme
Published	c. 1760
Songwriter(s)	Unknown

"Pease Porridge Hot" or "Pease Pudding Hot" (also known as "Peas Porridge Hot") is a children's singing game and nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19631.

The lyrics to the rhyme are:

The origins of this rhyme are unknown. The name refers to a type of porridge made from peas, pease pudding, also known in Middle English as pease pottage. ("Pease" was treated as a mass noun, similar to "oatmeal", and the singular "pea" and plural "peas" arose by back-formation.)

The earliest recorded version of Pease Porridge Hot is a riddle found in John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1760):

Where the terms "pease pudding" and "pease pottage" are used, the lyrics of the rhyme are altered accordingly.

Schoolchildren often play Pease Porridge Hot by pairing off and clapping their hands together to the rhyme as follows:

NOTE: The actions are performed during recitation of the word or phrase, not following.

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