The History and Culture of Japanese Geisha

A long standing stigma has been placed on Japanese Geisha girls. When someone thinks of a Geisha, they think of a glorified prostitute or call girl. This is far from the truth. Geisha’s are entertainers, and they are trained vigorously in art, music and dancing. If you translate Geisha into English, you get artist.

Being a true Geisha is an honor to the girls, who when they become full-fledged Geisha’s are then called geiko. If a girl begins her training to be a geisha before she is 21, she is called a maiko, meaning child dancer. A girl or woman can become a geisha even if she wasn’t a maiko, but if she had been a maiko she would enjoy much more prestige.

Because the geisha is much coveted, prostitutes have called themselves geisha’s to bring in more customers, but you will notice a distinct difference, and that is their attire. Both girls where a kimono, and over their kimono is an obi (or sash). Geisha’s tie their obi in the back, and prostitutes tie it in the front. One simple reason for this, you can’t tie it yourself if its in the back, and if you’re a prostitute, your going to need to tie it and untie it throughout the day. The prostitutes often went by the name ‘Geisha girls,’ or ‘panpan girls,’ and they often serviced American military. Geisha DO NOT engage in paid sex with clients.

Aren’t they courtesans? No they aren’t. While some girls may have a danna, a patron, take interest in them it doesn’t mean they will become intimate, although they most likely will. The danna pays for all of their expenses, sort of like a mistress, but relationship is a very intricate one that is not well understood. A geisha, even after completing her training, will continue to take classes.

So how does one become a geisha? Some girls were sold to the okiya, or geisha house, however this wasn’t too common in more reputable districts (a geisha district was called a hanamachi). Daughters of geisha usually became geisha themselves, and would most likely be the successor, atori, to the geisha house.

During the first stage of training, the girls would be put to work as maids and have to do everything they were told. This stage of training was called shikomi. The youngest of all the girls, or the newest to the house, would have to wait up until the most senior geisha returned home and assist her in getting ready for bed. This could be as late as two or three in the morning.

Also during this time the girls would be attending the hanamachi geisha school. Today’s girls still follow this custom to learn the traditions, dialect and the dress.
Once the girl has finished her shikomi training by becoming proficient in all of her classes and passing a dance exam, she was relieved of her “maid” duties and moved to the second stage of training, minarai. Minarai’s training would be done in the field, however they would not take part in the more advanced levels. They were they mostly to be seen and not heard so to speak. It is the minarai’s form of dress that we have adopted as what a geisha looks like. They are the most expressive and impressive designs, because their dress is supposed to speak for them.

A minarai teams up with an onee-san, or older sister. She follows her to her events and mainly observes or pours tea. A minarai could also work closely with a okaa-san, who is the proprietor of her geisha house. She’ll learn the art of conversation and how to play games. After she completes this stage she is promoted to maiko, an apprentice geisha. While the first two stages last only several months, maybe up to one year, the maiko stage could last years…

The maiko will go with her onee-san everywhere, but now she may participate, once her older sister feels comfortable. The onee-san teaches the maiko how to be a true geisha, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, calligraphy, playing the shamisan (a three string instrument), dancing, conversation. She will help her pick a new professional name. She will perfect her way of doing her hair and makeup. Hair is washed about once a week, and the design of the sytle so intricate it has to be done by a professional. A thick white foundation is applied to the face, neck and chest. A line is left around the hairline to create a ‘mask’ look. And a 'W' like shape is left at the back of the neck. Black is then traced around the eyes and eyebrows, a maiko also traditionally wears red around the eyes too. The lips are then colored, red, but not the entire lip, only parts of them. After three years of wearing her makeup, the maiko will wear a more subdued style. A lot of established geisha only wear their makeup when doing a special performance. Depending on if you’re in Kyoto or Tokyo, a geisha’s disposition is different. Tokyo geisha are more apt to be sassy, while geisha from Kyoto are more demure.

After her onee-san feels she is ready, the maiko will become a full-fledged geisha and charge full price. There are two types of geisha, a tachikata, who mainly dances and a jikata who mainly sings and plays instruments. The former are usually the younger girls and the latter older more established geisha.

But what are they charging what? You may have gotten some sort of idea, but let me explain further.

They attend parties and tea houses, where they are the entertainment and hostesses. They pour tea, sing, dance, play instruments, and chat with the guests. In other words they are the life of the party and companions.

The training to become a geisha is extremely rigorous, and because of this the number of women today who are becoming geisha is diminishing.

Here is a news clip from NBC on The Secret Life of Geisha:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngSWyBn5Jq8&feature=related

Here is a video of a geisha applying her makeup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvyskAURwCs&NR=1

Here is a video of a geisha dance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rebiXeM7h50&feature=related

If you are interested in reading some books about geisha, here is a list:

Geisha, A Life, by Mineko Iwasaki
Autobiography of a Geisha, by Sayo Masuda
The Asian Mystique, by Sheridan Prasso
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden

Cleaning in a Medieval Castle

This is by far the hardest blog I’ve had to write. Why? Because I simply haven’t been able to find as much information as I would have liked to. However, I will present to you what I’ve learned and hopefully it will enlighten you. If you have any additional information, please feel free to post it!

There has been much conflicting information about whether or not people in the middle ages were as clean as we were within out homes. I think its all hogwash. With what little tools they had to use comparatively and the way they lived, I believe they kept their homes to the best of their abilities.

Think about it, they didn’t have vacuums, steam cleaners, Swiffers, Lysol or Windex… We do, and there are definitely people out there that still don’t take advantage of all the advanced housecleaning tools and products. They still live in pigsties!

Where did the phrase “you live in a pigsty” come from?

Well the word pigsty, originated in the 1590’s as of course the word for a pigpen. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that it was used to describe someone’s living conditions as a dirty, messy or nasty place.

So how did they go about cleaning a medieval castle? Well, everyone had his or her own job to make sure that the place was in order, as well as someone to report to.

Obviously the lord and lady would be the head honchos, but underneath them you could have a steward, housekeeper, in some instances you may even have a chatelaine or castellan. A chatelaine is a mistress of the castle and a castellan is the governor of a castle. A husband and wife could be castellan and chatelaine together. These two would take the place of a lord or lady, let’s say they were not in attendance at the home or in some are instances if there was no lord, the lady may employ a governor, and vice versa.

A steward, also referred to as a seneschal was much more likely. His job was to take care of the estate and supervise the staff, as well as take care of the events in the great hall. The housekeeper would be in charge of the kitchen staff, the chambermaids, and cleaning of the estate.

Underneath the big dogs you might have various other workers, all the way down to the actual people who would do the cleaning, housemaids, scullions, and laundresses were the people who really cleaned quite a bit…

A housemaid would have quite a to do list from the time she woke in the morning. She would need to sweep the floors, generally downstairs until those who were sleeping had risen, then she would head upstairs. But even sweeping was a big deal. For instance, a lot of medieval castles had the floors strewn with rushes or straw. It was her job to see that these were cleaned up and replaced, but how often? It depended on the castle and who ran it. Some were changed monthly, some seasonally and some once a year. Whatever the case you can only imagine what was found underneath…

During the 15th century, the great scholar Erasmus wrote in a letter to a friend the following:

“The doors are, in general, laid with white clay, and are covered with rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for twenty years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned. Whenever the weather changes a vapour is exhaled, which I consider very detrimental to health. I may add that England is not only everywhere surrounded by sea, but is, in many places, swampy and marshy, intersected by salt rivers, to say nothing of salt provisions, in which the common people take so much delight I am confident the island would be much more salubrious if the use of rushes were abandoned, and if the rooms were built in such a way as to be exposed to the sky on two or three sides, and all the windows so built as to be opened or closed at once, and so completely closed as not to admit the foul air through chinks; for as it is beneficial to health to admit the air, so it is equally beneficial at times to exclude it."

Rush or straw woven mats were introduced to some to help with cleaning, so that these could be taken outside and beaten while the floors were swept, however some still preferred the strewn look. Herbs would be sprinkled throughout the rushes and mats to keep stench away. Some of the herbs used were lavender, chamomile, rose petals, daisies, cowslips, marjoram, basil, mint, violets, sage, and fennel.

In Thomas Tusser’s book Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, he gives lots of advice to housekeepers during the middle ages, here is what he says about getting rid of fleas in the rushes:

"While wormwood hath seed, get a bundle or twain,
to save against March, to make flea to refrain:
Where chamber is sweept, and wormwood is strown,
no flea, for his life, dare abide to be known.
What savour is best, if physic be true,
for places infected, than wormwood and rue?
It is as a comfort, for heart and the brain,
and therefore to have it, it is not in vain."

Sometimes the housemaid would even scrub the floors and walls with water and lye soap. (Lye soap is made from using the ashes of trees and shrubs, mixed with lard.) However this was only if they were made of stone or wood. If the wood happened to be covered over with plaster, she’d want to steer clear of using a water based cleaning method. Same goes for dirt floors.

After cleaning up the floor as much as she could a housemaid would then move onto the fireplaces. She clean out the ashes and soot and replace it with new logs for the day. Once upstairs she would clean out the basins and replace them with fresh water, as well as empty the chamber pots.

She would also sweep the floors and make the bed. If the bed needed cleaning she would collect up the linens to be given to the laundress. If the tapestries were in need of cleaning, she would have to take them down and outside to beat the dust and grime out of them. The maid would also be in charge of wiping down tables, benches, candlesticks, etc... pretty much any piece of furniture in any of the rooms. The housemaid would also be in charge of polishing any gold or silver in the house.

If she happened to finish her chores early, she could help out the cooks or laundresses. If the mattress itself needed cleaning, which it often did, because of lice, fleas and other nasty bedbugs, the maids would have to un-stuff it, have the mattress cleaned and then re-stuff it.

***It should also be noted that Parliament during the 14th century seemed to understand the need for cleanliness and its link to disease. Here is a proclamation they made in 1388:

"Item, that so much dung and filth of the garbage and entrails be cast and put into ditches, rivers, and other waters... so that the air there is grown greatly corrupt and infected, and many maladies and other intolerable diseases do daily happen... it is accorded and assented, that the proclamation be made as well in the city of London, as in other cities, boroughs, and towns through the realm of England, where it shall be needful that all they who do cast and lay all such annoyances, dung, garbages, entrails, and other ordure, in ditches, rivers, waters, and other places aforesaid, shall cause them utterly to be removed, avoided, and carried away, every one upon pain to lose and forfeit to our Lord the King the sum of 20 pounds..."

The laundress had a taxing job on the hands. Her hands were seeped in water day after day and would become dry and cracked. Her job was to clean and dry all the linens and garments within the household. The laundress also had the privilege, whether she liked it or not, to know about everyone’s bodily functions… Gagging… However nasty seeing the bloodstained sheets and then having to scrub them may have been, these ladies could rake in on the bribes from courtiers who would pay to know the cycles of queens, or even to see the sheets after a marriage is consummated.

Being a laundress was back breaking work. These ladies had to haul the water needed to do their cleaning from the well, moat or the closest river to where they did laundry, sometimes outside and sometimes in a designated room. After being heated, the water was dumped into a vat or into a bucking basket. Not only did they have to supply the water, they made the soap as well, using the method described above for lye soap. Lye soap was strong stuff, and could cut through the toughest grease spots, and other stains.

After getting the steamy water filled with lye soap, the laundress dumps the linens in and stirs with a wooden paddle, then literally beats the laundry until it’s clean.

Her job may have been a little easier than those who didn’t have access to such tools and took their laundry to the nearest river, soaked it and the beat it with and against rocks… That could take forever…

The next and last cleaning job I will discuss today is the job of a scullion or scullery maid. She or he was the lowest ranking among the servants, and may even be responsible for cleaning the chamber pots of other servants. They reported to the kitchen maid or cook. A scullion’s job was to clean the kitchen. This included, the floors, fireplace, pots and pans, and other dishes and utensils, disposing of the refuse. They were required to rise first and light all the fires and begin heating the water. Occasionally if they were down in servants, a scullion might serve the people in the hall and polish silver, gold and other expensive plate.

So what would you rather do?

Excellent Blog Awards

I just found out that History Undressed was just given an "Excellent Blog Award" by Scandalous Women (7/15).

Thank you so much, I am completely honored!!!

The blog meme was started by the Mommy Project.

Now it is my turn to pass the award on to some blogs I find excellent. It’s hard to choose because there are so many good blogs out there, but here are 10, in no particular order, that I think deserve an Excellent Blog Award:

A Bit O'Muslin

Author's Studio

Fierce Romance

History Hoydens

Lust in Time

Risky Regencies

The Virtual Dime Museum

Chicks of Characterization

Mozart

Scandalous Women

History of Hygiene: Bathing, Teeth Cleaning, Toileting, & Deodorizing

In present times we are obsessed with bathing. How many shampoo brands are there? Soaps, razors, perfumes? Hundreds, thousands! People make a stink, literally, if they smell the dreaded B.O…. Nobody wants to be downwind of someone who hasn’t bathed in awhile…

How did they wipe after going number two? We’ll discuss that next week who cleaned the toilets out…

So how did they deal with this in history? As usual we will only be discussing a part of history’s time line, Medieval through Regency times. In addition to the different time periods, we also have to remember that hygiene practices would have been different between peasants, nobles and royalty… Who would you rather be?

Bathing…

As in a lot of things medieval bathing was by some seen as a form of sexual debauchery and by others seen as letting the devil into you. It was also widely believed that being naked and letting the water touch you would make you severely ill.

At any rate, those that were able to in medieval times bathed more than we thought they did, by most historians standards. It particularly became more popular during the outbreak of the Black Plague. People were looking for reasons why it was spreading and how to decrease the effects, they found that frequent hand-washing in warm water, warm wine and also in vinegar helped. They also found that keeping the surroundings more clean helped too.

I’m also sure that looking, feeling and smelling clean was a bonus not only to yourself but to those around you.

Medieval kings and lords and their household bathed more than most. Some had special rooms set aside for bathing and others bathed in huge tubs brought into their rooms. The tubs tooth forever to fill as the water had to be gather, heated and then carried in buckets to their rooms, where it was poured in and mixed sometimes with perfumes, scented oils and flower petals. Their ladies were just as lucky.

Because gathering water was so difficult several people may enjoy the bath before the water was thrown out. Especially within the poor. The eldest went first down to the youngest, hence the saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water…”

Peasants submerged themselves in water rarely for a bath and were more likely to wash quickly with plain water and a rag and if they were lucky some soap. During warm months they may have slipped away to the river for a dip.

Hand-washing before entering the great hall for a meal was standard. During the crusades, knights brought soap from the East. Prior to that people used water only and the oils from flowers.

In chambers, people had basins of water for washing the face and hands, and maybe a more intimate part of themselves…

Rivers, lakes, ponds, etc… were used to taking dips and rinsing the filth from one’s body.

As a writer of historical fiction, and a lover of history in general, I try to do a lot of things the way they were done way back when. I dry my clothes in the sun sometimes, (not on a clothesline, but just a drying rack I set on my deck), I have a tapestry on my wall and an antique painting of a Highlander, I drink wine from goblets, I sit outside with the only light coming from torches and lanterns, I buy food from fresh markets and farms, I attend a Renaissance festival yearly, Huzzah! And I use homemade soaps from a local farmer. I really like them a lot. She makes them almost close to the way they were made in medieval times, and they smell fantastic.

Soft soaps were made of mutton fat, wood ash, and natural soda. Often they had flowers and herb oils added for a sweet smell, but this was very expensive. Hard soaps were made of olive oil, soda, lime, herbs and flowers.

In some cities they had public bath houses, where people could bathe all day. (Check out my previous blog, on the city of Bath England http://historyundressed.blogspot.com/2008/04/taking-waters-in-bath-england.html)

Elizabeth I, is said to have had a bath once a month. She herself also restored the bath houses in Bath, England.

During Regency times bath houses and sea bathing became popular. In the homes of the wealthy they bathed in copper tubs lined with linen. The poorer if they had a wooden barrel would bathe in them.

Earlier in the nineteenth century the hands, feet and face were regularly washed as in previous centuries, and the rest of your body every few weeks or longer. However the tides quickly changed.

It is said that Beau Brummel bathed every day, and made this more popular among the aristocrats. He believed men should smell clean, without the use of perfumes.

In some journals you read that children of the wealthy and their parents bathed daily. Some in the summer even bathed twice a day.

For the poor a weekly bath that all the family shared was more common.

It wasn’t until piping became regular sometime in the 19th century for homes to have water brought to them, rather than servants gathering the water themselves.

Brushing Teeth…

The first toothbrush was not patented until 1857, so how did they get their teeth clean? Obviously from accounts in history of even the wealthiest and most royal of people having brown teeth, that most people didn’t get them all too clean…

Those that tried used the following methods:

Medieval:

* Rinsing mouth with water to remove gunk from mouth.
* Rubbing teeth with a clean cloth to wipe tartar buildup and left over food particles from the teeth.
* Chewing herbs to freshen breath, mint, cloves, cinnamon, sage
* Using “toothpicks” to clean out the teeth.
* Mint and vinegar mixture, used to rinse out the mouth.
* Bay leaves soaked in orange flower water and mixed with musk.
* “Barbers” would also be used as dentists and would extract teeth that were rotting or bothering a person profusely. They sometimes were able to muck out the junk in teeth and create a filling of sorts.

Elizabethan:

* Rubbing teeth with the ashes of burnt rosemary.
* Powdered sage rub used to whiten teeth.
* Vinegar, wine and alum mouthwash
* After dinner comfits were eaten to freshen breath

Renaissance:

* The same practices for cleaning were in use, but the “barbers” aka dentists had begun to learn more about dentistry.
* The first dentures, gold crowns, and porcelain teeth, were constructed in the 1700’s.
* 1790 brought about the dental foot engine, similar to the foot pedal of a spinning wheel, it rotated a drill for cleaning out cavaties.
* The first dental chair was made in the late 1700’s.


Regency:
* They again used the same methods.
* A letter from Lord Chesterfield to his son urges the use of a sponge and warm water to scrub the teeth each morning.
* The recommendation of using one’s own urine in France was widely flouted by Fouchard, the French dentist.
* Gunpowder and alum were also recommended.

Toileting…

A bathroom or toilet back in the day was referred to as a garderobe or privy. In castles and monasteries/convents they had large arrangements of these for the people.

I had the fortune of grandparents residing in France while I grew up, and so I visited several times. On one particular occasion we visited a small village in the south of France, I can’t remember the name now. At any rate, I had to go potty. I followed the signs in the village to the public restroom and was floored, literally… There was just a hole in the floor.

As I was a young adolescent at the time, I wasn’t quite sure how to maneuver it. I’d been camping before so hence I’d had the pleasant (joking!) experience of peeing on the ground, but a hole? How would I am? I’m female, not trained in the arts of target practice while urinating… Needless to say I was able to handle it, but I couldn’t help but imagine at the time how medieval it was J

Garderobes were a room in a castles or monastery that had a bench with a hole in it. Not unlike how we use a toilet today. The person would sit down, do their business wipe with straw, moss, leaves, wool or linen rags, and then walk away. The waste would fall down a shoot into a pit or a moat. If into a cesspit it was then cleaned and mucked out by gong farmers. Garderobes were sometimes blocked off by a screen or door and sometimes out in the open.

When I visited Ireland they showed us a garderobe with chunks of moss for writing. It was pretty interesting.

At some point an enemy took it upon himself to use the garderobe as means of access to gain entry to a castle…yuck! So they were then built with iron bars so no one could climb up them.

Chamber pots were used in bedrooms in a castle that didn’t have a garderobe. Some of the larger castles actually had a latrine tower, which was filled with them. Some city walls also had privies so the guards could use them while on duty.

Imagine sitting on that cold stone in winter with the wind whipping up and hitting you square in your most sensitive spot… No thanks!

For peasants, a toilet was a bucket in the corner of the room that was tossed into the river, or a bucket behind the house, or a tree in the forest. No privies for these folks. Unfortunately water for cooking and bathing came from the same river…shudder…Perhaps this is why they thought bathing could make you ill?

Chamber pots were used widely up to the 18th century and then began to taper off as more and more households began using toilets. Some chamber pots were hidden in boxes. Growing up one of the coolest pieces of furniture we had was a chamber pot box. My mom, humorously, used it as a side table. If you took her accoutrements off and lifted the lid, there was the hole where the pot would have sat. Quite funny.

Chamber-pots would be emptied into sewers or cesspits.

Even during Regency times sewage and waste could bring about illness. Some London homes had toilets, not like the standard toilets that we have today, but they did include piping, however these pipes frequently backed up causing fumes to carry throughout the house. Some people had “earth closets” that would periodically drop dirt into the pipes to flush out the waste. The poor had privies in the backyard that were emptied into a cesspool. “Night soil men” would come by and empty the muck. All the pipes from homes and the wagons full of muck were dumped into the Thames River. This led to plenty of epidemics until emptying waste at certain times and away from the water supply was developed.

Manor homes had cesspits, that frequently became overflowed. They were often in the cellars of these homes and were emptied by the “night soil men.”

Although a flushable toilet was invented in the 1500’s there was no way to use it since they didn’t have running water. However they were able to develop systems of valves to keep the smells from coming up from the toilets, and periodic flushing was done.

De-Odorizing…

Obviously there wasn’t any Secret, Degree, Old Spice or Gillette, so what did they do to keep the big bad B.O. away?

Using perfumes was widely popular even in the middle ages. Oils from flowers, mixed with herbs and spices created all sorts of pleasant smells that both males and females indulged in.

When they did bathe, nobles and royals or even rich merchants bathed with scented soaps, so that their skin would take on the fragrance as it may not be a few days or longer until they could bathe again.

Nose-gays (literally kept the nose happy, or gay!) became popular when walking in the court or through crowds. A nosegay was something to keep the smells at bay, held in the hand, on the writs on a lapel. They could be a small bouquet of flowers, a sachet of dried flowers and herbs, an orange studded with cloves, or a sprig of herbs. People would often hold it up to their noses when walking in a large crowd.

Flowers and fresh herbs often adorned table tops in homes to keep the house smelling fresh…but we’ll discuss housecleaning in a couple of weeks.

____________________________________
I have invariably left some things out, so if you know more, please share!

In the meantime what do you think? Could you go to the bathroom in a bucket or in a garderobe? Wiped with straw or moss? Chewed herbs for fresh breath? Bathed in a river? Carried a nose-gay?

History of Makeup, Jewelry and Gloves

Since the beginning of time we’ve adorned our figures with some sort of decoration. Whether it is a holly branch, bone necklaces, paint, we’ve always enhanced our looks with makeup, and jewelry.

Today’s blog is going to be on the history of makeup and jewelry, and of course because I love gloves, I’m throwing that in too! But, as usual, I will only be discussing a portion of history, so this concise bit of information will only journey up to the Victorian era.

Makeup

Egyptians have the earliest documentation of using makeup. Men and women both used an unguent concoction that they would rub on to their skin to keep it moisturized and wrinkle free. People today are still using these methods! Come on, everyone marvels at the feel of silky smooth flesh…

Darkening the eyes of women, for a seductive gaze, was also popular. The gals would use soot to color the lids of their eyes, and their lashes. Underneath their eyes they would color dark green.

There are references in the Bible of women using makeup to paint their faces as well, so we know that women in the Holy land also adopted these methods. Wearing eye makeup supposedly would ward off evil spirits and improve eyesight.

In Roman times, while they still used kohl to darken the lids and lashes of the eye, they also used chalk to whiten the complexion and rouge on the cheeks and lips. White lead was also popular for lightening the face. The Persians used henna to dye both the skin and hair.

During the Middle Ages, having a lighter complexion was a sign of wealth and status. Why? Because the peasants were outside working all day, developing a tan, while the upper classes were able to sit inside at their leisure, or under a shady tree. Needless to say, women used makeup to lighten their skin. Some even went so far as to bleed themselves to achieve the light pallor. Wearing pink lipstick was also popular, as it is today.

There is a story during the late 17th and early 18th century, that an Italian woman created a white powder for the face, which was called Aqua Toffana, or sold as “Manna di San Nicola.” Unfortunately, the makeup was made of arsenic…but on purpose. You see this makeup was sold under the guise of a cosmetic when in fact it was made and sold to women who wished their husbands dead. Over 600 hundred men died, most likely from kissing the faces of their wives. Toffana was executed after the Roman authorities forced their way into the church where she’d sought sanctuary from the charges held against her.

During Elizabethan England women wore egg whites on their faces for a lovely glazed look. Yikes! I wouldn’t want to look like a doughnut! Heavy white makeup was popular, as was ruby red lips. Looking pure was popular, hence the light skin, light hair, red lips and red cheeks.



Elizabeth I, on the right & Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex and Leicester, on the left. Look how similar? You could mistake Lettice for the queen!

During Charles II’s reign in England (1660- 1685), the use of heavy makeup became popular to hide the pallor of illness, and to associate one’s self as healthy. The men would wear the makeup too; Charles II was one of those who used lots of creams and powders.
This carried through the French Revolution when red rouge and lipstick became popular as a sign of vitality and fun. The French became known as “The Painted French.”

During the Regency era, a pale face was still considered popular and so bonnets and parasols were used to keep the sun from their faces. Unfortunately deadly whiteners, made of lead, arsenic and mercury were used too and could cause hair loss, stomach aches, shaking and eventual death.

There is a story of a famous courtesan, Catherine "Kitty" Maria Fisher who died in 1767 from overuse of the whitener. After being known for her numerous affairs and even having a nursery rhyme sung after her, Kitty married a John Norris, a respectable man. They were only married four months before she passed.

The nursery rhyme goes:

Lucy Locket lost her pocket
Kitty Fisher found it
Not a penny was there in it
Just a ribbon’ round it

Lucy was a prostitute and her pocket was both her poor lover and her purse where she kept her pay. Kitty reportedly took up with the man even though he had no money.

Dandies during the Regency era also wore cosmetic creams, scents, powders and pastes, even rouging their cheeks. Because of this wearing makeup among manly men was pooh-poohed.

During the Victorian era makeup was disliked and associated with courtesans, prostitutes and actresses. Women did use home-made face washes, masks and creams. Lipstick was only used by lower class women, and ladies of the upper class would use a sheer pomade to give the lips a shine. Some would discreetly add a tinge of color to pinken their lips slightly. Natural products were used instead of the deadly ones. Rice powder, oatmeal, rose water, honey, egg whites, beet juice, and lemon juice among the ingredients.


Jewelry

Gold has been very popular for making jewelry at least since Egyptian times. Why? Several reasons. Gold is rare, doesn’t tarnish and is easily manipulated to take on new shapes, either by melting or heating it to bend.

The Egyptians also used colored stones, glass, and enamels to decorate the gold. By Roman times, sapphires, emeralds, garnets, diamonds, and amber were in use.

The wearing of jewelry became so popular amongst all classes of people that during the Middle Ages, sumptuary laws were passed to ban the lower classes from wearing jewelry. In France, a royal ordinance in 1283 states that no bourgeois or bourgeoisie were allowed to wear girdles (belt) that were made of gold, silver or adorned with pearls, and gemstones. In England, the laws were very similar.

Precious stones were kept by many. Some of the lower classes and middle classes would keep the stones against future needs, like savings. The upper classes when they weren’t flaunting them on their persons would save them for more jewelry, plate or give them away as gifts during weddings and New Years. Of course they also kept some for sentimental value as we still do today.

The wearing of jewelry is much like we do today also. Some worn on day to day occasions and some that are kept for special days and celebrations.

Crown jewels have always been important to any empire. (More on crown jewels 8/25/08.)

Fake jewelry became popular during the Middle Ages as well and was often used for children, funeral proceedings and sometimes intently, just as it is today. The Italians were especially good at creating the fake jewels to look real.

During the 17th century jewelry became more a part of ones costume, and women often had earrings, made from pastes, to match each of their outfits during the day. At night, precious gems and stones were used. Stomachers on gowns were often decorated with the jewels as well. Sometimes even sleeves and skirts might be adorned with jewels and brooches here and there. Pearls were very popular especially on clothing. In Paris a man named Jacques developed a method to make very realistic looking pearls by coating blown glass hollow balls with iridescent fish scales and varnish. He would fill the balls with wax to strengthen them.

The cameo became hugely popular during this time, and with the widely easy making of steel, and glass and porcelain they were made in abundance. By Victorian times, machine made jewelry was being made quite a bit. Some Victorian women rebelled against these pieces preferring the hand crafted. Jewelry by this time was also being seen as more romantic.


Gloves

Glove making goes back to caveman times where they would make mitts to cover their hands from the cold. The crude mittens grew from oddly shaped constructions to the fingered creations they are today. Many see glove making as an art.

Made of leather, fabric and metal they take all sorts of shapes and forms. The glove that a horse master wears was infinitely different to the delicately embroidered glove of a lady. The leather glove of a gardener is different from the sleek leather of a gentleman. Three-fingered gloves would be worn by field hands and shepherds or even a falconer. Five fingered gloves were worn mostly by people of the church, nobles and royals.

Homer mentions in his book The Odyssey the Laertes is wearing gloves to protect himself from the brambles.

Besides being used as protection from cold weather, thorny bushes, or being used as part of armor or simply a fashion statement, gloves hold many symbols too.

In Regency times if a woman were to slowly peel away her glove, it would be like a striptease! In medieval times if a man threw his gauntlet, it meant a duel to the death. Same thing in Regency times, if a man slapped another man with his glove, a fight was inevitable.

It was during the 13th century that lady’s began to wear gloves as a fashion statement. They were made of silk, furs, leather and linens, and reached from wrist to even elbows. Some were adorned with jewels and pearls, or embroidered with gold, silver and corded silks. There were even sumptuary laws during some times and places! Samite (a heavy silk, sometimes interwoven with gold) gloves were banned in 1294 in Bologna, and in 1560 perfumed gloves were banned in Rome.

The Ancient Ritual of Footbinding

WARNING: Some may find the pictures I will have displayed throughout this blog disturbing.


I first became enamored with the Chinese culture when in high school our history teacher assigned us the book Spring Moon, by Bette Bao Lord. It was also in the book that I first learned about foot binding.

Now, I haven’t read this book in over a decade, but I will be reading it again soon, and today I will present to you the ancient ritual of foot binding.

Women in China bound their feet for over a thousand years. There are several stories explaining why the custom began, but no one can say which one is the true reason. One tale, which is documented during the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) is of Prince Li Yu (R. 961-975) falling for a concubine, Yao Niang, whose tiny feet made her look like she floated as she danced, and was called the “lily-footed” woman. Women began to bind their feet to emulate in dance and grace the style of the concubine. Another story is that an had a clubbed foot, and in order to make herself appear beautiful and un-deformed, she asked her husband to order foot-binding to be mandatory. Another story is of a sleepwalking empress with fourteen inch long feet. It was decided her sleepwalking was from her large feet and so a surgeon was summoned to cut off part of her feet, making them 3 inches long. She was very pleased and did not sleep walk again, however she was not pleased that all the rest of the women in the palace still had naturally long feet. It was decreed from then on that all women must have small feet.

Foot-binding was more than just a beauty regimen. It was a way of life, and would be very difficult to get rid of. Because it was such a popular ritual in society, men would not marry a woman who did not have her feet bound. Starting among the upper class it trickled down to even the lowest classes as it was then seen as a way to marry into the upper classes. Small feet were so coveted, that fairy tale stories of peasants marrying upper-class because of their tiny feet did come true. A precedent was set, and girls at a very young age would have the painful ordeal of getting their feet bound. Men found the short steps in the gait of woman with bound feet to be erotic, calling it the “lotus gait.” One rumor is that the new way of walking would tighten a woman’s vagina, thus making her grip her husband’s penis during intercourse more tightly. This is because after the feet are bound and you can’t walk part of your lower leg muscles atrophy. When they begin walking again they use the muscles around their hips and buttocks to walk, which builds up those areas.

The foot fetish was extreme. Men liked to do things with the feet, touch them with their unmentionables, kiss them and caress them…The feet were considered to be the most intimate part on a woman’s body, kind of like breasts are today. Her shoes, like a bra or panties…

Have you ever seen an ashtray, pipe, dish, etc… in the shape of or designed with the “lotus shoe?” I recall many of these items in my grandparents home since my grandfather was stationed in China for a time.

Not to mention that crippling the woman did not allow her to participate much in anything having to do with politics. Women were mostly restricted to their homes as their dependency on their families was so strong. If they did venture from the home they had to have an escort help them, since they were so unstable on their feet. Most would be carried or ride in a sedan, for they couldn’t walk for long periods of time.

The Chinese are not the only ones with the painful rituals for beauty and social status. Think of women and corsets, plucking, waxing, dyeing, surgical enhancements, piercings, tattoos, high-heels. And don’t forget the saying, which I have said myself plenty of times when brushing the knots out of my daughters hair, “pain is beauty.”

***Groan*** I will never say it again!

During the 17th century, the Manchu’s tried to abolish the foot-binding practice, but it continued into the 20th century when a real movement began to end the act. In 1911 when the Qing Dynasty came to an end, and the new Republic of China government banned the practice. Some still bound their feet in secret and still live today.
The process of foot-binding was very painful. The mother or grandmother of the girl would be the one to perform the binding between the tender ages of four and seven years old, before the arch of the foot had a chance to develop. Binding would be done in the winter months when feet were prone to be numb from cold, and the pain would be less extreme.

The feet would first be soaked in a warmth concoction of herbs and animal blood or warm water, then rubbed with ointment and massaged. This step would help remove all the dead skin on the foot. The toenails would be clipped before short. Then the four smaller toes on each foot would be broken. While this process was taking place the mother/grandmother would have been soaking 10 foot long bandages in the herbal liquid. She would then take these bandages and wrap them tightly from the broken toes to the heel. This would cause the bottom of the foot the bend concavely. Several accounts reported the breaking of the foot to bend it in half as well. The feet were then forced into 3-inch long “lotus shoes.” The feet were rebound every 2 days. Blood and puss would be washed from the feet. After two years of this, the feet would be about 3-4 inches long which was the desirable length. To keep them this size, the foot-binding would continue for another ten years.

For a woman who worked in the fields or somehow managed to refuse the traditional practice, she was often teased, and almost always looked down on. Names such as “lotus boats” would be referred to her feet. Mothers would refuse for their sons to talk to these girls, because of their non-bound feet.

Foot-binding caused a lot of health problems for women. If the feet were not bound properly, blood circulation would be cut off so badly that toes would die, fall off, the skin would rot, gangrene would start in the foot. Such bad infections could cause the woman to die, and some did. Infections would happen quite a bit from the un-cleanliness of the feet. Because it took so long to bind the feet, most women would along unbind them every two weeks to wash them. In that period of time, quite a bit of bacteria and other things can grow in the folds and creases of the bound foot.

Women with bound feet are not only more likely to fall and break a hip or their back because they are not as balanced on their feet, it is actually proven that they have lower hip bone and back bone ratio than women with unbound feet. Women with bound feet also have difficulty in squatting, which is necessary in numerous daily activities.

I myself, am naturally a clumsy person. I couldn’t imagine if my size 9 foot shrunk to 3 inches! I would not make it more than one or two steps without falling… How about you?

History of Weddings: From the Middle Ages to the Present

Have weddings changed all that much since the Middle Ages? Let’s take a look and see…

We still have the huge feasts which are accompanied often by rowdiness and drunken states. Music and dancing are done by all. The bride has her ladies in waiting, the groom has his attendants. The bride sometimes still wears crinoline and hoops… Most people still get married in churches. If you’re Catholic, you still need an annulment vs. a divorce. Marriage is still considered a contract under the law…

Here’s a closer look…

Medieval Weddings

During the middle ages, we saw the rise of marriage laws. In 1076, The Council of Westminster made it a law that marriage must be blessed by a priest, and in the 16th century it was said that the marriage must be performed by a priest with witnesses present. Contracts and legal documents started to be drawn up, similar to today’s prenuptial agreements, marriage contracts and licenses. Dowry, property, rights, etc… would be contained in these documents.

Believe it or not but in the Middle Ages, a woman’s beauty regimen prior to her wedding is very similar to what I did before mine… Her face would often be painted with some sort of cosmetic (discussing cosmetics at a later date). She might sun-bleach her hair. Some women plucked their hairline. In the middle ages, it was considered fashionable to have a high forehead. Now this one I didn’t do, but I have a friend who wasn’t very fond of her widow’s peak. Hair would be worn loose or with a garland of flowers. This might be the only flowers adorning a bride. Some carried a sachet of herbs and potpourri, but not the traditional bouquet that contemporary brides carry.

If a woman came from a wealthy or noble family, she would have a nice hot bath, followed with some flower and herb scented oils. If she wasn’t, she would be dirty…but still get some sort of perfume to cover the smells. It may be foul to think about, but if everyone is dirty, then it’s just normal.

The finest silks with gold or silver embroidery would be worn. Brightly colored fabrics were popular. Men would wear their finest court attire, or even a newly made set of clothes. Jewelry, furs and elaborate belts adorned every noble body.

Today white is the symbol of purity, and most wedding dresses made in this hue. In the middle ages this wasn’t so. Bride’s would wear blue most often, as blue was the symbol of purity. If her gown was not blue, she would wear something blue, like a ribbon on her person. Hence today’s, “something blue.”

The garter also became popular in medieval times. As guests followed the bride and groom to their room, where they “put” the couple to bed, overzealous guests would grapple with the bride’s gown, trying to take something for good luck. That’s when the garter became popular, so people would then try to take it. I wonder how shocked they’d be now if they saw a modern groom, buried deep under his bride’s skirts, pulling out the lacy garter with his teeth? “Oh, heavens!” **crosses self** That would be hilarious.

Peasants usually could only afford to wear their everyday clothes, perhaps the one good outfit they saved for church.

For a person of noble birth, their wedding may take place in the castle or manner. As long as it was blessed by a priest, it wasn’t necessary for the ceremony to take place in a church. Great feasts would follow, with fools, minstrels, musicians, and other entertainers.

Today’s tiered wedding cakes actually stemmed from the Middle Ages. Guests would bring little cakes and stack them on top of one another. The bride and groom would then try to kiss over top of the cakes without knocking them to the ground.

Guests included inhabitants of the residence, other nobles and distant relatives. Invitations were not sent out.

The noble wedding was rarely one filled with love. It was an arranged marriage.

Now peasants were a little different. They would often marry for love… or perhaps a quick love-fest that resulted in pregnancy would push them down the aisle. Despite differences, peasants still considered marriage to be a legal contract, and there were some who also suffered through an arranged marriage. Betrothal ceremonies would be held in the home, attended by some of the villagers. A village tradition was the shower the bride and groom with seeds of grain to wish them a fertile marriage…not so unlike throwing rice, which is going out of style…

Rings were exchanged amongst the wealthy, however among peasants, often the groom would break a coin in half keeping one side for himself and giving the other to his bride.

Elizabethan Weddings

A lot of the customs from the middle ages were still upheld during Elizabethan times. Religion still played a major roll in weddings, and ceremonies would be conducted by a priest, most likely in a church. A procession would take the bride from her home to the church.

Prior to marrying, a Crying the Banns would be done. This was the couple’s announcement of their intention to marry. Should anything bar that from happening, it would be brought up during the banns. This custom still occurs in British churches today. The announcement would be made in church, three Sundays in a row. Anyone who married without conducting the Crying the Banns, their marriage would be considered illegal. If they lived in different parishes, the banns would need to be cried in both.

If someone needed to get married right away however, they could be issued a Marriage Bond, by the bishop. The marriage bond contract required only one week of Crying the Banns. Fun Fact: William Shakespeare and his wife elicited a Marriage Bond from the bishop for their own wedding.

Weddings were held in the mornings, before noon, and the feasts took place afterward.

Flowers played a bigger part. The bridesmaids would be in charge of making bouquets for guests, and to make the wedding garland, which was rosemary and roses. The bride would carry her garland until after the ceremony, where she would then place it on her head.

The cost of the wedding fell to the bride’s father, however in small villages; neighbors may prepare food for the feast, sort of like a pot-luck dinner. Another tradition stumbled into Elizabethan times as well, the bride ale. A bride would gather in a courtyard and sell ale to as many people would buy it, for as much as they would pay to finance her wedding.

Invitations were still not sent out. People knew of the wedding and they would attend. If it was to be held at court, courtiers knew to go. Sometimes little notes might be sent out, but nothing formal. Strict social order is observed in the church, nobles up front, peasants in the back.

The marriage contract was still very important, with details of the dowry and jointure (what the grooms family would provide to the bride should she become a widow).

Engagement rings were not yet popular; however diamond wedding rings could be seen.

Regency Weddings

During the Regency, weddings became mostly private affairs, and even if held at church was not attended by that many. A very popular place to have a wedding was at St. George’s Church in Hanover Square. In fact, in 1816 there were 1063 weddings held that year in the church. According to the Hibiscus Sinesis website, with that many weddings in the year, it was a rival with a Las Vegas wedding chapel.

It was during the Regency-era that white wedding gowns began to stick. Wearing white was popular during that time anyway, so it wasn’t only a wedding gown thing.

Reading of the banns was still done in the Regency-era but there were also a couple of other ways you could go about it. There was the common license, which was obtained by a bishop or archbishop. The couple had to be married in a church or chapel where either the bride or groom had lived for four weeks. The third way was a special license, which was issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Doctors Commons in London. The special license allowed the couple to marry anytime, anyplace.

Weddings were still done in the mornings and could be followed by a breakfast feast.

Victorian Weddings

Queen Victoria is often given credit for making the white wedding gown popular since she herself wore white to her wedding; however there have been many royal and non-royal brides before her that did not wear white.

Flowers began to play a bigger part in the wedding. The church or chapel would be decorated with them. Men would wear a flower in the lapel of their frock coat or morning coat. In the country, a bride would walk to the chapel on a carpet of flower blossoms.

Church bells rang to alert the people that the wedding was taking place, and to ward off evil.

By 1880, weddings could be held as late as 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Scottish Marriages

In Scotland marriages were a lot different. There were not all the rules that applied to England. In Scotland a couple was considered married if they announced it to witnesses, and then consummated the marriage.

In England, people would elope to Gretna Green in Scotland to avoid the laws and restrictions. These marriages were considered legal in England, although they were discouraged. Sounds vaguely like a Vegas wedding…


So you tell me, have weddings changed all that much?