SC - Platina and setting a table

Angie Malone alm4 at cornell.edu
Sat Nov 11 16:47:09 PST 2000


Everyone,
  
  I am probably losing my mind with less than a week to go before I cook
the feast, but I have gotten interested in what tables settings were like
and even interested in napkin folding but I am digressing.     : - )

  In Platina it says in Book I section 12  On setting a table:
  
  One must set a table according to the time of year; in winter, in
enclosed and warm places, in summer, in cool and open places.  In spring,
flowers are arranged in the dining room and onthe table; in winter, the air
should be redolent with perfumes; in summer, the floor should be stewn with
fragrant boughs of trees, of vine and of willow, which freshen the dining
room, in autumn, let the ripe grapes, pears and apples hang from the
ceiling.  Napkins should be white and the tablecloths spotless, because, if
they were otherwise, they  should arouse squeamishness and take away the
desire to eat.  Let a servant scrub the knives andd sharpen their edges so
that diners will not be delayed by dullness of iron.  The rest of the
dishes should be scrubbed clean, whether they are earthen or silver, for
this meticulous care arouses even a sluggish appetite.

===
My question is this, if I was to assume that we are now in winter, what
kind of perfumes would we be putting in the air?

	Angeline


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