Life in the 1500's

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 the1500s:


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 ! !

 

that was an amusing read

 

I think right after that was when suicide started.

Steve

 

ha-ha wouldn't doubt it. those aren't my words at the bottom, came with.

 

And you say your computer's name is Gideon... Methinks with all the talk of death, another name should be used.

LOL

Nice read, interesting stuff. But how did the dogs get in the ceiling?

E

 

Ladder?

 

Good one Darlene!

 

Every thatched roof I've ever seen has a ladder leaning against it, the three pigs', the seven dwarfs

 

So you have seen the "Three Pigs", and the "7 Dwarfs" and the ladder in their thatched roof house huh. So do you see these thatched roofs often, or just sometimes...



E

 

Not in a while

 

An interesting read, indeed. A lot of sayings and traditions go back to medieval, or Roman times - sometimes way back to Pagan or Neolithic.

We all know lead does bad things to us, nowadays, but at least we don't have our water flowing through lead pipes anymore. Hence the chemical symbol Pb, or Plumbium (as in plumbing) for lead.

Thanks for sharing that with us, Darlene.

 

Reminds me of my time in Africa. A lot still applies to our third world countries, especially in Africa, unfortunately. Bazza

 

I have never wanted to travel, see the world with the exception of Africa. Always thought it would be beautiful, now I think it's sad.
Seen too many movies like Elephant Walk as a youngster I guess.

 

Still beautiful, but ruined by corrupt officials from the #1 guy down to the airport officials, in most African countries.

Look at what is happening in Zimbabwe.
Around 5,000 percent inflation, per annum, thanks to Government policies.
How can people live with that? The answer is that they can't of course and are voting with their feet to swell neighbouring countries as legal and illegal migrants.

I love Elephant Walk as you might have seen another thread of mine.

If you can, check out "A Good Man in Africa", on VHS only. :cry
I've have a copy burnt to DVD. Stars Sean Connery, John Lithgow, Diana Rigg (Emma Peel from the Avengers), Colin Friels.
Don't know why it hasn't been released to DVD yet? :confused Bazza

===

 

No shortage of it on ebay, prices for VHS, DVD, Posters and the book, range from 98 cents to $550.00 first edition.

 

Thanks darlene, last time I looked for DVD release it wasn't listed. Will check again. Bazza

===

 

Looks like countries other than USA and Australia are just releasing versions.
I guess Amazon will eventually catch up. They list a Belgium version. Bazza

 

Not quite right. Tomatoes were considered poisonous because they come from the same plant family as nightshade. Or as it's more popularly known to farmers and others, deadly nightshade. Which is really, really poisonous.