LIFE IN THE 1500s
[...This is one of those emails
that have circulated for years...can't certify the
veracity of the comments, but they are certainly
interesting...]
LIFE IN THE 1500s
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 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 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
slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and 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
add 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 "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!
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This page was last updated August 2, 2005.
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