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

 
 
--