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You Don't Say!
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 1500s:
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 odour. 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 four poster 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.
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 the imbibers 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 the 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..
Thanks to Ann Campbell for this
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