[vineyardblues]

Maybe some of the older grumpy guys can tell us if this is true ? lol

VB



>> 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 1500s:
>>
>> 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 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
>> 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 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. 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 History
>> was boring ! ! !
>>
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