> > This is actually pretty interesting! But verify the truth.
> >
> >
> >
> > 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 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
> > added more thresh
> > until, when you opened the door, it would all
> start
> > slipping outside. A
> > piece of wood was placed in the entrance way.
> 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 a 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 whiskey. 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 ! ! !
> >
> > Educate someone. Share these facts with a friend
> >
