[CS-FSLUG] NI: LIFE IN THE 1500'S -A Short History Lesson

[Fred A. Miller]

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 the1500s:

          These are interesting...

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!!!

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