Interesting Etiquette

As we grow up we're told lots of things that we all adhere too for sake of politeness and simply because our parents tell us to! Many of these courtesies can be traced back to the Middle Ages, the age of knights and chivalry, kings and queens. They were created to be courteous, symbolic and some were simply logical.

Handshakes - Presenting an empty hand forward to another person shows no weapon. The other person does the same, again showing they are unarmed. Therefore a handshake meant they were going to talk not fight.

A salute - Think of a knight wearing full armour, he cannot chat while wearing a helmet. So if he wanted to talk, he must remove the barrier by lifting the visor. When lifting the visor the knights hand ended at his forehead, parallel to the ground. A salute, indicating the lifting of the visor, indicates the knight talking not fighting.

Making a toast - When the glasses clinked together, the drinks sloshed together on impact, meaning that whatever was in one drink (poison,drugs,aphrodisiacs) had now been passed into both glasses. If you were to drug your friend you would get some too. Making it your best interest to not let your friend drink an evil drink.

Covering your mouth when you yawn - the first reason is religious. It was believed that when you yawned, your mouth was wide open and the Devil could reach in and yank out your soul.

- the second reason being that in Middle Ages, peasants and nobility stank. When yawning people had a strong chance of swallowing one the flies that swarmed around them.

Keeping elbows off the dinner table - simply a necessity. In those times people ate at very long, thin dinner tables where everybody was packed in tightly. If one person were to put their elbow on the table, the only place it could move to was into the next persons dinner. If someone had their elbows on the table, the next person could not eat.

This information was found at www.allsands.com