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 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 adding 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 "threshold."
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
"uppercrust."
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 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 that History was boring!!!
Educate someone...Share these facts with a friend.
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