Back Then
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.
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..
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.
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 ya?)
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 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 ! ! !
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