Living in the 1500s
Here are some facts about the1500s that put things in
perspective...
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 cus tom 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 f
inally 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 tha t 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.
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 se
e 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 i
n 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...