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I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

going-medieval.com

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Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#261

Post by m33k44 »

There is a Hindu mythological story in India about how the elephant god ganpati/gajanan/ganesh(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha) got his elephant head while his body is of a human.

The story goes something like this, Shiva/Shankar/Mahesh(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva) is a god of destruction in Hinduism. When he was out in the forest, his wife Parvati was alone and had to go for a bath. But she was concerned what if some stranger gets into the house while she was bathing. So to prevent anyone getting into the house she removes the layer of sandalwood and turmeric paste she had applied to her body and makes an idol of a boy and puts life into him. As the boy comes to life she instructs him to guard the house and not let anyone enter while his mother(Parvati) is having a bath.

Her husband returns after a while. Parvati is still in the bath. And as he tries to enter the house, the boy prevents him from doing so saying that his mother has instructed him not to let anyone inside the house. Shiva, known for his temper, gets angry and throws his weapon, trishul(trident), at the boy which chops off his head and it falls somewhere in the forest. Parvati, when she returns from her bath sees the headless body of her son and gets angry at Shiva and demands that he bring the boy back to life. But there is a problem, the head is missing. So Shiva goes in search of the head into the forest but he is unable to find it. So when he sees an elephant in the forest, he chops off the head of the animal and attaches it to the boys body and puts life back into it. That is how people of HN, the Hindu god Ganpati got his elephant head :)

Now, did I mention this is a mythological story? So please be kind to this gentle soul. I only narrated this story because it includes the concept of bathing :D

There are lot of such stories in Indian mythology where there is mention of bathing.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#262

Post by tremon »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #33
ralusek wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indians definitely still have certain specific hygiene practices that Westerners don't. Anybody who has worked at a large tech company will have taken note of the tooth brushes in the bathrooms. I found this to be very confusing at first, but then I noticed that a good amount of my Indian coworkers would brush their teeth after lunch.

I don’t think this is an Indian thing, western dentists recommend brushing teeth after each meal.

Curiously enough, mine doesn't. In fact, he explicitly recommends against it, since the tooth enamel is weakened by food and saliva, and brushing immediately after a meal scrapes off the weakened enamel.

Instead, he says it's best to wait half an hour between the meal and brushing the teeth.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#264

Post by mongol »

kzrdude wrote: post #181
mongol wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and this is to this day the Swedish word for Saturday: lördag, from "lögardagen". Same etymology as laugardagr.

Well, laugardagr is the etymology, isn't it? The modern shapes of this weekday name are still used in the scandinavian languages, and Icelandic, Finnish and Estonian.

Yes could be, it is obvious they are related, I don't know if laugardagr is the original or if they have common roots.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#265

Post by nkurz »

Osmose wrote: post #145
raarts wrote: post #75

Quoted post unavailable.

You're gonna be disappointed in the rest of the internet and a significant amount of the adults in the world if this language is so foul as to bother you. Completely unnecessary callout. Either way, a skim of some google results looking for other articles on medieval bathing references evidence in the form of obituaries mentioning deaths of peasants while bathing in rivers, as well as the existence of bathhouses in s…

> You're gonna be disappointed in the rest of the internet and a significant amount of the adults in the world if this language is so foul as to bother you

Yup, you've got that right.

> Completely unnecessary callout.

Nope, it can still be worthwhile to try to maintain high standards even if they are not universally followed.

I'm not offended by this article, but I thought it was less effective than it could have been if it had used vulgarity more selectively. Presumably the author thinks it helps her to reach the audience she is aiming for, and she might be right, but it was a turn-off for me, and apparently quite a few others on this thread.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#267

Post by tlogan »

kgeist wrote: post #99

The Old Norse word for Saturday, laugardagr, literally means "washing day". This custom still survives here in countryside Eastern Europe where many people routinely go to sauna (banya) every Saturday (or Sunday like my family). Before the 20th century, a lot of Eastern Europe (especially Russia) still lived like they lived in the middle ages: 95% of the country were serfs on feudal property living in traditional woo…

But Nordic countries become Christian just in 12th century. And it took considerably longer for actual Christian beliefs to establish themselves among the people in these regions.

So all these “don’t bath” nonsense promoted by pope was ignored (like, Pope Innocent IV passed the verdict against Frederick II of being a heathen. The first accusation on his list was the King bathed daily.)

In short, people did not wanted to smell bad but church considered an unwashed body a stinking badge of piety (as mentioned by Saint Francis of Assisi).

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#268

Post by dqpb »

You don’t need a whole tub to bathe. A person can take a reasonable “shower” with a bucket of water and a cup. It’s much easier to heat one bucket of water than to fill a whole tub. I would be surprised if peasants didn’t primarily take bucket baths.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#269

Post by dang »

malx0x wrote: post #19
kumarvvr wrote: post #12

Its funny that western history distorts the history of the rest of the world. I hear western kids saying no one used to bathe in the ancient times. As an Indian, it was practically mandatory for each and every individual to take a bath at-least two times a day. Additionally the following customs were very prevalent till recent times. 1. Washing legs after coming home from outside. 2. Washing hands, face and legs befo…

By personal experience, it's a shame those customs didn't continue.

We've banned this account. Creating accounts to break the site guidelines will eventually get your main account banned too, so please don't.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#270

Post by jvanderbot »

politelemon wrote: post #135
kumarvvr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In ancient times, right until the attacks by Islamist marauders and "civilized" Britishers, none of what you have mentioned were an issue. Your statement reeks of colonialist attitudes of seeing natives of other lands as some sort of brutes and degenerates living in destitution in poverty. In India, Every village was in the vicinity of a water source. Every village had a temple, with a large pond. Massaging with oil…

> In ancient times, right until the attacks by Islamist marauders and "civilized" Britishers, none of what you have mentioned were an issue. Your statement reeks of colonialist attitudes of seeing natives of other lands as some sort of brutes and degenerates living in destitution in poverty. Your statements reek of nationalism and revisionist history, viewing the past through black-and-white-and-rose tinted glasses,…

Arguing across an ocean about the validity of anecdotal bathing practices is not the transhumanist future I though ubiquitous internet would provide.

But what did I expect...

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