History

[Guest guest]

> 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, as time passed

> they

> were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide

> the

> body odor. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.

> The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water;

followed

> by

> his sons, and other men living under the same roof. Then came the women

> and

> finally the children. Last of all were 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

> 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, thus came the saying, " It's raining cats and dogs. "

>

> There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house either.

> 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. 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 slat 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

> until when you opened the door it

> would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the

> entranceway creating 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 lighted the fire and added things to

> the

> pot. They ate mostly vegetables without much meat. They would eat the

> stew

> for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight, then

> start

> over the next day. Often times the kettle contained the same stew for

> quite

> a while, hence the rhyme, " peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas

> porridge in the pot nine days old. "

>

> Families that could obtain pork considered themselves quite special.

When

> visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was

an

> outward sign of wealth that a man could " bring home the bacon. " Another

> indication was to cut off a sliver of bacon to share with guests and

sit

> around to " chew the fat. "

>

> Those with money had plates made of pewter. Unknowingly at the time,

food

> with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto 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.

Most

> people did not have pewter plates, but

> had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl.

> Often trenchers were made from stale bread, which was so old and hard

> that

> they could be reused for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed,

> and

> worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy,

> moldy trenchers, one would get " trench mouth. "

>

> 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

> roadside would often take them for dead, and prepare them for burial.

The

> " deceased " were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days, and

> families would gather around, and eat, drink and wait to see if the

party

> would wake up, thus began the custom of holding a " wake. "

>

> England is old and small, and the locals started running out of places

to

> bury people. They would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a

> " bone-house " and reuse the grave. When reopening coffins, 1 out of 25

> coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside. Realizing they

> had

> been burying people alive came the thought of

> looping a string around the wrist of the corpse, through a hole in the

> coffin, and up through the ground attached to a bell. Someone had to

sit

> 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, folks. Who said History was boring.

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