ChickenLittles by LilLadyReg

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:

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 sli ppery 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 t heir 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. Hen ce
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 ! ! !