Here are some facts about the 1500s:
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> > These are interesting...
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> > 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.
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> >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."
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> >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 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.
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> >The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
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> >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."
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> > (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
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> >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."
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> >Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
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> >When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
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> >It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon."
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> >They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around
> >and "chew the fat."
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> >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.
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> >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."
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> >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."
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> > 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.
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> >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..
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> >Now, whoever said that History was boring ! ! ! Educate someone!