THANK YOU SUE FOR THE INSIGHT OF THE ENGLISH HABITS. IT SHOWS THAT EVEN AT
MY AGE I CAN STILL LEARN
SO MANY INTERESTING THINGS. KEEP DIGGING A BIT MORE FOR US.
GREETINGS FROM DORA THE KNOTTER
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sue Duckles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:32 AM
Subject: [lace-chat] This is very entertaining and even educational
Thought you might enjoy these bits and pieces about Western
traditions.
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 the
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 it
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
"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 that History was
boring
!
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