History Lesson

[Bhelliom]

Bit of a history lesson, Sorry if this has been posted before or everyone has seen it. But its new to me and I liked it so fuck off :P



LIFE IN THE 1500'S
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 1500's:

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 odour.
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 adding 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 littl e 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 "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 that History was boring !!!