"Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" is an English nursery rhyme. The rhyme has been seen as having religious and historical significance, but its origins and meaning are disputed. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19626.
Lyrics
thumb|260px|[[William Wallace Denslow's rendition of the poem, 1901]]
The most common modern version is:
<blockquote><poem>Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.</poem></blockquote>
The oldest known version was first published in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (1745) with the lyrics that are shown here:
<blockquote><poem>\ Mary, Mary, Quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells,
Pretty maids all in a row.
Like many nursery rhymes, it has acquired various historical explanations. One theory is that it is a religious allegory of Catholicism, with Mary being Mary, the mother of Jesus, bells representing the sanctus bells, the cockleshells the badges of the pilgrims to the shrine of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and pretty maids are nuns, but even within this strand of thought there are differences of opinion as to whether it is lament for the reinstatement of Catholicism or its persecution.