I got this e-mail from my cousin a while back and thought it would be fun to save for a post one day. Well, today is the day. Here's an interesting look at life back in the 1500's. If this doesn't make you thankful for our modern comforts I don't know what will. {My comments in brackets}
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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 1500's - it's interesting to say the least.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath {um, ew!} in May & still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor which brings us to a common tradition in weddings today.
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. The {poor} babies {who couldn't speak up & complain} were last. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it, {again, gross} hence the saying "don't throw the baby out with the bath water." {I've never heard of this saying but why even bother with a bath after the filthy man has gone in, I'd take a swim in the creek first!}
Houses had thatched roofs - thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. {drafty?} It was the only place for animals to get warm so all the cats, dogs and other small animals like mice & bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slipper and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof, hence the saying "it's raining cats & dogs." {why house a cat if it won't kill the mice?}
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 easily mess up your nice clean bed. {another ew!} Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. {I'd also like to add that the phrase "honey, I have a headache" started around the same time as bugs & droppings falling into the bed.}
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 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 threshold.
(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. Everyday 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..." {As a kid I wondered a)what peas porridge was & why it was appealing b)why would you want it cold? and c)9 days old, seriously?
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over the would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could 'bring home the bacon' - literally at this time. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and 'chew the fat.' {love me some bacon!}
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.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. 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 to see if they would wake up, hence the custom of holding a wake. {creeepy}
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and take the bones to a bone-house so they could 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'. {I guess the whole 'wake' thing didn't always work}
And that's the truth - now whoever said history was boring?!
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So that was the e-mail. Is this all true? I have no clue but it's fun & gross & creepy anyway right? I for one can say this is a whole other list of reasons that I am glad to be born in this century with modern conveniences like running water, well made roofs, good floors - even if they look like a grocery store, refrigerators, affordable food, poison free tomatoes & medical technology that can accurately confirm if a person is dead.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 1500's - it's interesting to say the least.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath {um, ew!} in May & still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor which brings us to a common tradition in weddings today.
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. The {poor} babies {who couldn't speak up & complain} were last. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it, {again, gross} hence the saying "don't throw the baby out with the bath water." {I've never heard of this saying but why even bother with a bath after the filthy man has gone in, I'd take a swim in the creek first!}
Houses had thatched roofs - thick straw piled high, with no wood underneath. {drafty?} It was the only place for animals to get warm so all the cats, dogs and other small animals like mice & bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slipper and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof, hence the saying "it's raining cats & dogs." {why house a cat if it won't kill the mice?}
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 easily mess up your nice clean bed. {another ew!} Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. {I'd also like to add that the phrase "honey, I have a headache" started around the same time as bugs & droppings falling into the bed.}
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 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 threshold.
(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. Everyday 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..." {As a kid I wondered a)what peas porridge was & why it was appealing b)why would you want it cold? and c)9 days old, seriously?
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over the would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could 'bring home the bacon' - literally at this time. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and 'chew the fat.' {love me some bacon!}
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.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. 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 to see if they would wake up, hence the custom of holding a wake. {creeepy}
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and take the bones to a bone-house so they could 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'. {I guess the whole 'wake' thing didn't always work}
And that's the truth - now whoever said history was boring?!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So that was the e-mail. Is this all true? I have no clue but it's fun & gross & creepy anyway right? I for one can say this is a whole other list of reasons that I am glad to be born in this century with modern conveniences like running water, well made roofs, good floors - even if they look like a grocery store, refrigerators, affordable food, poison free tomatoes & medical technology that can accurately confirm if a person is dead.
♥
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