(The Philippine Star) Updated July 09, 2011
… and customs. That’s what I was reading while
waiting for our delayed flight from Milan to Rome. I’ll be eternally
grateful to whoever can help me discover the original author of this
collection of info, so I may give proper credit to the person. For the
meantime, enjoy this as I have!
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. [thus June’s being the
wedding month.] However, some would be 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 then consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of
the house had the privilege to use the nice, clean water first; then
all the other sons and men; then the women; and finally the children.
Last of all were 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 bathwater.”
Houses used to have 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 animals would slip and fall off
the roof. Hence the expression, “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 the nice, clean bed. So a bed with big posts and a sheet hanging
over the top afforded some protection.
That’s how canopy beds came into
existence.
Floors then were made of dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the term, “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 term, “thresh hold.”
In the olden days, pork was expensive. When visitors came
over, the family 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 and 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”.
Now this is the part I personally like.
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, take the bones to
a bone-house, and reuse the grave. Upon reopening these coffins, 1 out
of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside. They
realized they had been burying people alive! So they started tying a
string on the wrist of the corpse, leading it through the coffin and up
through the ground, so they can tie the other end to a bell.
Then
someone would 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”.
Whoever said History was boring doesn’t understand what he or she is saying.
No comments:
Post a Comment