- Joined
- Aug 2, 2002
- Messages
- 476
Here are some alleged facts about the 1500s in England - or early UM's?
==============================
Most people got married in June, because they took their yearly
bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June.
However, as time passed they were starting to smell, so brides
carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour.
==============================
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the
house had the privilege of the nice clean water; followed by his
sons, and other men living under the same roof. Then came the
women and finally the children. Last of all were 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 dogs, 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, thus came the saying,
"It's raining cats and dogs."
==============================
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house either.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other
droppings could really 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 slat 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 kept adding more thresh
until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside.
piece of wood was placed in the entrance way creating 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 lighted the fire and
added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables without much
meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the
pot to get cold overnight, then start over the next day. Oftentimes
the kettle contained the same stew for quite a while, hence the
rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in
the pot nine days old."
==============================
Families that could obtain pork considered themselves quite
special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon
to show off. It was an outward sign of wealth that a man could
"bring home the bacon." Another indication was to cut off a sliver
of bacon to share with guests and sit around to "chew the fat."
==============================
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Unknowingly at the
time, food with a high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so
for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered
poisonous.
===============================
Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece
of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers
were made from stale bread, which was so old and hard that they
could be reused for quite some time. Trenchers were never
washed, and worms and mould got into the wood and old bread.
After eating off wormy, mouldy trenchers, one would get "trench
mouth".
==============================
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 to drink ale or whiskey.
The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of
days. Someone walking along roadside would often take them for
dead, and prepare them for burial. The "deceased" were laid out on
the kitchen table for a couple of days and families would gather
around, and eat, drink and wait to see
if the party would wake up, thus began the custom of holding a
"wake."
=============================
England is old and in some small villages the locals started
running out of places to bury people. They would dig up coffins and
would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave.
When re-opening coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have
scratch marks on the inside.
Realizing they had been burying people alive came the thought of
looping a string around the wrist of the corpse, through a hole in
the coffin, and up through the ground attached to a bell. Someone
had to sit 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."
==============================
Most people got married in June, because they took their yearly
bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June.
However, as time passed they were starting to smell, so brides
carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour.
==============================
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the
house had the privilege of the nice clean water; followed by his
sons, and other men living under the same roof. Then came the
women and finally the children. Last of all were 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 dogs, 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, thus came the saying,
"It's raining cats and dogs."
==============================
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house either.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other
droppings could really 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 slat 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 kept adding more thresh
until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside.
piece of wood was placed in the entrance way creating 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 lighted the fire and
added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables without much
meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the
pot to get cold overnight, then start over the next day. Oftentimes
the kettle contained the same stew for quite a while, hence the
rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in
the pot nine days old."
==============================
Families that could obtain pork considered themselves quite
special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon
to show off. It was an outward sign of wealth that a man could
"bring home the bacon." Another indication was to cut off a sliver
of bacon to share with guests and sit around to "chew the fat."
==============================
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Unknowingly at the
time, food with a high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so
for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered
poisonous.
===============================
Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece
of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers
were made from stale bread, which was so old and hard that they
could be reused for quite some time. Trenchers were never
washed, and worms and mould got into the wood and old bread.
After eating off wormy, mouldy trenchers, one would get "trench
mouth".
==============================
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 to drink ale or whiskey.
The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of
days. Someone walking along roadside would often take them for
dead, and prepare them for burial. The "deceased" were laid out on
the kitchen table for a couple of days and families would gather
around, and eat, drink and wait to see
if the party would wake up, thus began the custom of holding a
"wake."
=============================
England is old and in some small villages the locals started
running out of places to bury people. They would dig up coffins and
would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave.
When re-opening coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have
scratch marks on the inside.
Realizing they had been burying people alive came the thought of
looping a string around the wrist of the corpse, through a hole in
the coffin, and up through the ground attached to a bell. Someone
had to sit 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 is this thing about Queen Liz actually true?
