Life in the 1500's...Not a lot of people know about that---Enjoy
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However ,they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o. Baths equalled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, 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 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 pets---dogs ,cats and other small animals , mice, rats, 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 really mess up your nice clean bed. So they found that if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem.
Hence, those big four poster beds with canopies.
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 on the floor to help keeping their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way,
Hence a ''thresh hold.''
They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that was always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would it the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for a month.
Hence the rhyme ,'' peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.''
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A few questions etc for you:-
Did you get married in June?
Did you get thrown out with the bath water ?
What lives in your roof?--------Doves?
Do you remember.''Nite nite don't let the bed bugs bite ''?
Was your honeymoon in a four poster?
Were you ever ''dirt poor''?
Did you get carried over the thresh hold ?
Do you remember the rhyme?
Answers please.
KOTC
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