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 ! ! !

Educate someone. Share these facts with a friend.

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