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 entrance way. Hence the saying 'a thresh hold'. 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. Never mind the 1500's, I can identify with some of those from my childhood!!!
Actually they are all true. A wealthy person would sleep in the canopied bed to prevent things falling on them at night. Their closest servant would sleep on a truckle bed that was stored under the main bed during the day. All beds were strung across with rope that had to be tightened each night to take the feather matress, hence the saying 'Sleep tight'. The feather matresses were also somewhat infested, so you get the joiner 'Don't let the bed bugs bite'. The salt was kept halfway down the dining table in the great hall, so the wealthy were 'above the salt' the poor below it. Humble pie? Its actually Umble pie, the entrails of the deer, so if you were poor you got umble pie while the lord and his family got venison. Weddings: traditionally the newly married couple would have to jump over a bench left outside the church by their friends, so they overcame their first obstacle of married life. The presents from the groom to the bridesmaids were to bribe them into making sure the bride got to the church. Bridesmaids were there to surround the bride and protect her from any vengeful demons ie, her new mother in law. Am trying to recall others now.
Ah yes! Thresh hold. Nana it wasn't the rush floors, it was the doorway to the threshing barn. There was always a large slab of stone in the doorway as this is where the corn would be threshed by hand as it had the strongest breeze to blow away the chaff. so it was where the thresh was held. Hence thresh hold. However the rush floors were cleaned once a year, hence 'out with the old, in with the new'.
"Square meal" comes from the RN using square plates on ships as they were easier to stack than round plates and therefore less prone to movement.
