>Subject: 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:
>
>
>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 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 ! ! !