In The 1500"s

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just right, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts sbout 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 wiht 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 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 dogs 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 really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. Thats 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 the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh unti lwhen you opened the door it would 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 hings 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 gt cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that ad been thee for quite 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 sit around and "chew the fat".

Those with money had plates of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach into the food, causing lead poisoning and 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 "upper crust"

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them 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 to see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of having 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 thats the truth. Now, whoever said that history was boring!!

thanks, MID, love stuff like In the 1500's.....Be well.....