You may have seen this before, but if not, you may enjoy some of the
history. The next time you are washing your hands and complain
because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about
how things used to be.
Here are some facts about the 1500′s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath
in May, and still smelled pretty good by June.
However, they were
starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide
the body odor. Hence the
custom today of carrying a bouquet when
getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the
house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
then all the
other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.
Last of
all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually
lose someone in it.
Hence the saying,
Don’t throw the baby out
with the Bath water.
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood
underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so
all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would
slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying It’s raining cats and dogs.
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This
posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could
mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet
hung over the top afforded some protection.
That’s how canopy beds
came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.. Hence the saying, Dirt poor.
The wealthy had slate
floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread
thresh (straw)
on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore
on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door,
it would
all start slipping outside.A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.
Hence the saying
a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle
that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and
added things to the pot.
They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much
meat.
They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the
pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold,
peas
porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon.
They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit
around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter.
Food with high acid
content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
poisoning death..
This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the
next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status.
Workers got the burnt bottom
of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or
the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.
The combination would
sometimes knock a person out for a couple of days.
Someone walking
along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the
family would gather
around and eat and drink and wait and see if they
would wake up.
Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of
places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and would take
the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these
coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks
on the
inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.
So they
would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the
coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would
have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to
listen for the bell;
thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or
was considered a ….dead ringer.
And that’s the truth.
Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !