[Ansteorra] folklore and wive's tales: fact or fallacy

[Susan Hill]

Good gentles,

Please pardon the intrusion, but I received an email today that my gut tells 
me is full of misconceptions and inaccuracies. Unfortunately, I do not have 
the resources at hand to determine which parts of it are true and which are 
not. It disturbs me that potential misinformation is being sent about as 
fact. Being that the subject line was 'Life in the 1500's' I immediately 
thought of the one place where there is a large group that might have such 
information. Some of you, in the course of your readings and studies may 
have come upon some of this folklore. In the name of education and maybe a 
little amusement, I beseech your assistance so that I may set my friend and 
the long list of folks she sent this to, on the right path.

Thank you most kindly for your attention.

Lady Linet Grey

Some amazing origins of common sayings.  Who woulda thought?

>

> > 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 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 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 "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."

> >

> >

> >