Chewing the fat

[Guest guest]

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 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.

 

 

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..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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