[SOC] Fw: where did that come from...the 1500 s

[john bell]

> 
> * LIFE IN THE 1500's *
> 
> 
> 
> 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 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 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 History was boring ! ! !
> 
> --
> 
> 
>


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