Some of these "facts" sound a bit dubious... Fun though!
"Have you ever wondered how some customs, practices and
sayings came about?
If so, read on!
Here are some interesting 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 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, insects) 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
insects 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 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
into 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
to see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of
holding a "wake."
Locals started running out of places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones
to a "bone-house" and re-use the grave. When
reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were
found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
realised 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."
Now, whoever said that History was boring!!!"
:)
Fab,l love reading things like this ;D the only one l knew about was dead ringers,although l always thought it was 'saved by the bell'
Thanks,that was interesting.
Great stuss Sally :)
PS I'm pretty sure saved by the bell is from boxing.
Brill sally, thanks. Love things like this! :)
Quote from: Barnowl on February 16, 2007, 13:37:02
Great stuss Sally :)
"Great stuss" ???
I meant Great stuff!
Thresh hold is from threshing (thrashing) flail(ing) to seperate the grain from the straw and hence the wheat from the chaff...
;D
really interesting Sally, the 'good old days'. :)
Thanks Sally that was great - must have taken you ages - cheered me up
loads ;D ;D
I wish I could take credit Blue Bird, but my mum sent it to me in an e-mail!
;)
Well done to Mum ;D it did so cheered me up on a really bad day.
Make the most of your Mum - and top tip ask as many questions about you family history as you can while your Mum can still remember!!!
I left it too late with my Mum - they have so much info to share but you have to make sure you ask
Cheers Sally's Mum x