Brigita's Blog: Some Interesting Facts From the Good Ole Days!

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... 

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 try and 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 - lastly, the babies.  By then the water was so dirty, someone could get lost 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 dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.  When it rained, it became very 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 real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up a 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 got slippery in the winter when they were wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing.   As winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh and when the door was opened, thresh would start slipping outside.  A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway, hence, the term, "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 the 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 and subsequently, 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 "upper crust." 

Lead cups were used for drinking ale or whisky.  The combination of the alcohol and the lead would sometimes knock the drinker 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 coffin and the grave.  When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside, it was then that they realized they had been burying people alive.  So, they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground tied to a bell.  Someone would sit out in the graveyard all night (thus, "graveyard shift"), and listen for the bell; therefore, "saved by the bell" be considered a "dead ringer."  

And that's the truth... who ever said that history was boring!  Educate someone else...Share these facts with others.