Life in the Sixteenth Century |
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 equaled 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 pets...dogs, cats
and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in theroof. 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 if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4 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 which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep 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 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 eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers
in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes
the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme:
peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."