Tuesday, January 7, 2014

How to Keep Your Hands Warm, 1579

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow (1565)
"Whosoever annoynts his feete or hands, with the grease of a Woolfe: he shall not be hurt with any colde of his handes, or feete so annointed." 
Thomas Lupton, A Thousand Notable Things (1579)
Winter inventory checklist: Hot cocoa. Warm hat. Wolf grease.

6 comments:

  1. It's bad to live in a place where the wolves are sufficiently well fed that you can render wolf grease.

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  2. Healthy wolves, healthy environment.

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  3. Okay, I would like to see this person try that. Get some wolf grease and go hang out in -40 degrees with only the grease on your hands. Tell me if you get frostbite. While you are at it be sure to put butter on your burns and go to the doctor who has the most blood on his instruments.

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  4. Man... everyone's so harsh. This guy published in 1579... imagine how hard it was to google alternatives!

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  5. Well, they do add wolf or boar grease to the face in northern siberia (thank you national geographic), and indeed, no burns.

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  6. In Ireland at the time they used goose fat. They are easier to catch and their bites don't hurt nearly as much.

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