What is the name of the board on which they washed before. How they washed in different eras

May 02 2014

How were clothes washed in ancient times?

Do you know when the first washing machine was invented? It turns out that even as far back as 1797. However, this kind of household appliances familiar to us now has not always been widely used. Laundry has always been considered very hard work. Are you wondering how people washed in different eras? Then read on

Ancient Egypt

Washing powders were used in ancient Egypt. The most common washerwoman's assistant was ordinary soda. In addition, potassium carbonate was obtained from charcoal, with which they also washed. This remedy has been popular in many countries for many centuries. And the ash and fat of animal soaps were made even before our era. In ancient Egypt, clothes were sometimes washed by rubbing the places of contamination with wax. It is believed that it was the Egyptians who discovered that the juice of certain plants, once in water, turns into foam and helps to wash stains.

Ancient Greece

Laundry in ancient Greece was akin to making wine. In the sense that it was also a ritual with all sorts of ceremonies. People chose places with clay soil, dug small holes there, into which they poured water. Then linen was thrown into the pit, on which the washerwoman stood with her feet and trampled until the desired result was obtained. After that, the laundry had only to be rinsed in clean water and dried.

Ancient Rome

It is believed that the first soap was invented by the Romans. The legend says that once fat was melted on a sacrificial fire, and then it started to rain and washed away this fat, along with the ashes, into the Tiber. People who were washing clothes on the banks of this river at that moment noticed that the fabric washes better. On Sapo Hill, archaeologists discovered the remains of a primitive soap made from ash and fat.

ancient india

In ancient India, laundry was considered a male occupation, women were not allowed to do this. By the way, in some areas this tradition is still honored. The Hindus took underwear in their hands and beat them with force against a huge boulder until the clothes were clean. This method of washing was very common on many continents.

Europe in the Middle Ages

In medieval Europe, laundresses were mostly women who worked from early morning until late at night, regardless of the weather. Usually their workplaces were near fountains or pools. If there was a river or sea in a city or village, then, naturally, they washed on the shore. There were laundry boats in the water. In Europe, linen was first boiled and then taken to the nearest body of water. There, the laundresses knelt on special wooden footbridges and rinsed their clothes. Such work was considered extremely difficult. In the 19th century, women arrested for prostitution were sentenced to corrective labor as a laundress.

Ancient Rus' and Russia

The Slavs first soaked linen in tubs or other capacious containers. Often bleaches of vegetable origin were added there: ash from sunflowers, a decoction of beans and potatoes, sour milk, sheep urine, pig manure. After a few hours, hot stones were thrown into the vats. Elderberry juice was used as soap.

Wealthy people gave their laundry to laundresses, poorer people did their own laundry. This process often took a whole day. By the way, not all of them were erased. Outerwear, dresses and camisoles were brushed over the steam. All children's things, underwear and bed linen were directly washed. Stains that could not be washed off by hand were smeared with kerosene or alcohol, and then rubbed and rinsed again.

In my school, in one of the classrooms, there was an ethnographic museum. There was a curious exhibit - a roll. Wooden plate in the form of a zigzag with a short handle. With the help of such a device in Rus' they washed for centuries. Usually the felt was made from aspen or linden, sometimes from birch.

Linen was first soaked in soapy water, and then laid on flat boards and beaten with a roller. The process was repeated several times.

In Russia, in the old days, linen was soaked in vats or barrels and steamed. Bleached, falling asleep "ash" - ash from buckwheat straw or, for example, sunflowers. After that, hot stones were thrown there. Instead of soap, elderberries, soapwort roots and aloe juice were used. They were crushed and mixed with ash liquor.

For bleaching, linen was placed in sour milk for two or three days or a decoction of beans, "potato" water was used.

Women who did not have the opportunity to use the services of a laundress arranged a big laundry in the house about once a month.

Washed, as a rule, only underwear and bed linen and children's clothes. Everything else - men's camisoles, ladies' silk, velvet, brocade, damask dresses, embroidered corsages - were not washed, but only kept over steam and then brushed.

The dirtiest clothes were soaked in alkali, then boiled.

Chalk was used to remove greasy stains, alcohol was used for grass stains, and kerosene was used for blood stains. For a long time, human urine or pig manure, lemon juice were used as bleach.

To prevent the clothes from fading, vinegar, borax, alkali (for black) or bran (for other colors) were added to the water. Silk was advised to wash in kerosene.

Soap was often made at home from water, ash and fat. In every country, housewives and household manuals had many recipes for various types of soap for lace, for wool, for fine fabrics.

Different peoples had different ways of washing. But they all boiled down, basically, to soaking linen in cold or hot water, after which it was rubbed, beaten, beaten on flat stones on the river bank, rinsed, squeezed and dried.

Clothes were washed in a large bucket or tub, often using a roller or a clothes stirrer. This is a wooden stick, at the end of which there is a cone or several “legs”. The stirrer was lowered into a bucket of linen and twisted.

The first washing "machine" was an ordinary oak barrel into which water was poured. It was brought to a boil with the help of red-hot stones, which were thrown into the water. Then they put linen in boiling water, put a bag with ash (lye) steamed in the stove, and everything was thoroughly mixed.

Agatha Christie said, "The best time to plan a book is when you're cooking." It's hard to disagree: even a modern woman has to spend so much time on routine homework that sometimes you want someone ... to make a victim of a detective story. And this is in the presence of cleaners / detergents and household appliances that facilitate the work of a housewife! But it was much harder for our great-grandmothers and great-great-grandmothers, although even in the distant past, a woman had devices to facilitate household work. This material is dedicated to "old gadgets" and no less old "life hacks".

1. What could be worse than washing, or a horse with a roller to help

“Again, things have accumulated in the laundry basket ...”, a modern woman states the fact doomedly. Whining from the good life? But after all, even 10 minutes to distribute dirty things for “loading” by color and recommended washing mode, and then another half an hour to “unload” and hang 20 pairs of socks and other linen trifles is precious time and effort, already tired of “multi-vector » woman's household chores. And how much time did our great-grandmothers spend doing laundry?

Valek - "bat" for linen

“The woman didn’t cook at all, but fussing with dirty shirts and trousers ...”, they used to say in Rus' .. Despite the use of “old household chemicals” (for example, lye - a caustic ash solution for soaking clothes), washing was incredibly time-consuming a process that required a minimum of endurance from a woman. The word "washerwoman", by the way, is from the verb "right"("pound, reap, crush, shove, wring out, squeeze out").

The main "gadget" of our great-grandmothers was the so-called "pralny(i.e. "washing") outrigger"(one of the dialect variants is “laundress”) - a wooden flat bar for “rolling” and “beating” linen. Valek “squeezed out”, “knocked out” “waste products” from the fabric. This procedure, familiar to women of past centuries, was very energy-consuming and required a fair amount of physical strength. Fun fact: in the 19th century, women of easy virtue were forced to work in laundries as punishment.

Barrel: a step away from an activator-type washing machine

It is strange that this device has not gained wide popularity: the design for washing in the form of a barrel on a horizontal axis is almost one step away from the activator-type washing machine.

In soapy water, the laundry spun and was washed obviously better than the “beating” method. The only, but significant, disadvantage of the device is the need to manually set such a “drum” in motion.

The most intelligent and resourceful used animals as helpers: a donkey, for example, walked in circles with a barrel in which a soapy solution cleaned clothes without damaging the fabric. In the middle of the 19th century, a Californian gold digger came up with a device for washing a large batch of linen, which was set in motion by ten harnessed mules. True, the number of shirts that could be washed at a time (about a dozen or a half dozen) is not impressive: there are two shirts for each mule - this is somehow not serious.

The way of sailors: laziness = progress

What do long-distance sailors do without women? Wash your own clothes! And since no decent man will strain beyond the minimum need, the "sailor's" way of washing is very simple and reliable. There is no wife - there is water: dirty clothes (in some sources they add “soaped”, but something of the author of the site takes doubts about this stage) were thrown overboard on a rope and waited for the sea linen “fluffed up” in the abyss to be cleaned of household pollution.

The rivermen were even more fortunate: after such a “wash” in fresh water, no additional manipulations were required. There was such a thing (mostly in dialects) as "dry"- this is washing without detergents, as well as a piece of clothing (most often a shirt) that does not require thorough washing.

2. Rubel: Ironing is the business of beefy women

About the heavy cast-iron iron with coals inside is told and retold. But before the advent of the iron, the ironing method was much more exotic - mechanical. The washed and dried thing was carefully wound on a special rolling pin, and then, put on a bundle rubel(he is also a “roller”, only ironing), "rolled" it on a flat hard surface with the strongest possible pressure. The ribbed surface of the rubel (a rectangular board with rounded notches on the working surface and a handle) kneaded the fabric that was hard after washing and smoothed out the “wrinkles”.

The rubel was often decorated with intricate designs and given as a gift. So, an enviable groom could well give a rubel to a marriageable beauty (cutting out the girl’s initials in addition to the pattern), and at the same time check the future mistress for “suitability”. "Decorative-utilitarian" variations of the rubel were often deliberately made to look like a female silhouette: the thickened end of the handle resembled the head, and the working part - the torso.

3. Whorl - a mixer of energetic great-grandmothers

With the help of this uncomplicated "gadget" it was possible to perfectly mix the products and even whip various mixtures. Name "whorl"- from the verb "to stir up", i.e. "interfere". A stick with 4-5 "horns" at the end - a prototype of a whisk and a mixer - did not require special skills to use: the whorl was vertically immersed in a container, and then the upper part was intensively twisted, squeezed between the palms. With a certain skill, the proteins could be beaten no worse than with a mixer.

By the way, it was very easy to make a whorl - nature itself gave the idea. A fragment of a thin pine or spruce trunk with a whorled arrangement (i.e., at the same height) of branches extending in different directions is an almost finished whorl. Lateral branches were shortened to 3-5 centimeters, the handle was polished so as not to injure the palms. And you can stir up pies!

4. Golik-derkach - "scrape" floors

Before the birth of the savior of grandmothers, Mr. Proper, they used to clean the floors "golik", or "derkach"- an old broom made of branches without leaves. Since in the old days the floors were unpainted (well, if they were at all!), the dirt gradually ate into the wood, and simply sweeping the litter was not enough. In such cases, the old golik was used as emery to clean the floor from stubborn dirt. The most easy way is to roll on the floor with your foot, having previously thrown gruss (coarse sand or fine gravel) under the golik-derkach.

5. Pumpkin family - supplier of dishware "brushes"

Nobody likes to wash containers with a narrow neck (jars, jugs, bottles, vases): even a special brush does not cope with 5+. But the great-grandmothers knew the “life hack” and did not “steam”: they put pumpkin / zucchini / cucumber leaves, etc. in a dirty container (that is, they used plants whose leaves are hard, with prickly “villi”), filled with water and intensively shaken up. The author of the site would hardly have believed in the effectiveness of such a cleaning if, in front of his eyes, a 5-liter plastic bottle with walls darkened from water from a summer column had not been cleaned with zucchini leaves in 10 seconds.

So, not all old "gadgets" and "life hacks" are useless and harsh. But the article will try to convince housewives of the loyalty of the modern world.

Washing in the Middle Ages was undoubtedly a more laborious task than it is now. There was no central plumbing with hot water, no special detergents "for white and colored linen."

Washed mostly with lye (derived from hardwood ash) and/or urine (which is also an alkaline thing). Laundry was infrequent, once a month or so. Since the whole process is quite laborious, and on ordinary days, women already had enough worries. Therefore, a special day was allocated for washing. In order not to carry tons of water home for washing, women (which is logical) carried linen to the water. Not everywhere there were natural reservoirs, they washed in any place where there is water - near fountains, near wells. On this day, a lot of people gathered for washing, so it seems to me that it was not boring.

Surviving to this day, a medieval public laundry in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

Washed mostly only underwear, bed linen and children's clothes. In rich houses, of course, there was more washing - tablecloths, napkins, etc., but there it was done by a whole staff of servants. Formal clothes were most often not washed, but simply kept over the steam, and then brushed. The same applies to heavy clothing, woolen, lined with fur, and many hats.

In order to maintain a decent smell from washing to washing, linen and clothes were aired by hanging on the street or over smoking incense (for example, incense). This provided a rather pleasant aroma.

Laundry devices were also uncomplicated - they wound linen on a stick and beat it against stones; rubbed linen with stones or a ribbed board (rubel). They crushed, stinged, pounded dirty linen. They put it in huge barrels, filled it with urine and climbed inside - to trample on it with their feet. After that, the linen was poured with clean water and hot stones were thrown there, thereby bringing the water to a boil. And only then they rinsed and rinsed "in the river, stream, ocean."

Clothes were dried by hanging on clotheslines or simply laying them out on the grass. The canvas left in the sun for 40 days became perfectly white. Silk and woolen fabrics were bleached in a different way - the damp fabric was hung over sulfuric smoke. This, however, harmed the fibers ...

In general, the problem of bleaches and stain removers was quite acute. There were no less books with recipes for stain removers than culinary ones. Even lime was used to prepare alkaline solutions, which is quite dangerous. More gentle options for washing mixtures included wine yeast ash (the dried pomace of grapes left after fermentation), gentian roots, and even pea ash.

Clothes were sometimes dried stretched on pegs or even on voluminous forms, which made it possible to dry and smooth at the same time.

There are various ways to wash things without detergents.

The most famous way to wash without powder and soap is in mustard (not in sauce, but in grain powder!). Take 15 g of mustard per 1 liter of water, leave for 2-3 hours, drain the water from above, pour mustard again with hot water. Hot water is added to the drained water and washed. You need to wash 1-2 times, each time in fresh liquid. After that, each item is rinsed separately. It is impossible to pour mustard with water hotter than 40 degrees - it will brew and will not be effective.
To wash wool and silk from greasy stains, the following method is recommended: pour a glass of dry mustard with a small amount of water, grind to a liquid slurry, rub through gauze into a bucket and pour 10 liters of warm water. Wash things in this solution, change the infusion 2-3 times per wash.

The plant itself is mustard

mustard seeds

The second way is in the soap root (soap root), you can buy it in the market or in a pharmacy. Take 100 g of root per 2 kg of dry linen, break it into small pieces, pour 1 liter of boiling water and leave for a day, stirring several times. Then boil over low heat for an hour, filter through gauze and beat the foam. It should be divided into 2 parts and each item should be washed twice in different containers. The root remaining on the gauze can be soaked again, the solution will turn out a little weaker. The root is stored only in a dry form, the solution is used immediately.

The soapwort herself

soapwort root

Woolen and silk items can be washed in a decoction of white beans by boiling 1 kg in 5-6 liters of water (in a sealed container) and straining it. The broth can be diluted with hot water and, after whipping the foam, start washing.

White beans

Ash can also be used for washing. Wood ash (not coals!) Is poured with water and allowed to brew until the water becomes soapy. After that, the water is carefully drained (or the infusion is filtered through a cloth) and linen is boiled in this water.

Horse chestnuts are also suitable for washing. To do this, harvested chestnuts are peeled from the brown peel, the white kernels are dried and then crushed into powder. Then everything is simple - soak the laundry with this powder overnight and then boil it. In addition, chestnuts have a whitening effect.

It is worth recalling that rinsing in water with vinegar fixes the dye on the fabric and prevents it from shedding so quickly. In addition, it gives wool and silk shine, the fabric does not fade.

You can bleach clothes: chestnuts, soaking in sour milk for a couple of days, urine, lemon juice.

At the festival "Red Field-2012" we conducted an experiment on washing VERY dirty breeches that belonged to a young gentleman 6 years old. Washed off with ash. The ashes were poured onto a rag, tied up in a bag, placed together with a breeze in water and boiled. But there was not much ash, they did not boil for long either (the weather did not contribute to the duration of the process), so then they decided to wash it with soap (brewed from lye and fat). After all this was rinsed in a stream. The result, of course, is imperfect, but noticeable. Things to consider: 1) you need more ash, 2) you need to boil longer, 3) soak all the dirt overnight in an alkaline solution, and only then wash it. Here.

For the first part of the article, materials from the following sites were used:

stores.renstore.com/-strse-template/0905b/Page.bok

kimrendfeld.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/medieval-laundry/

www.oldandinteresting.com/history-of-laundry.aspx

During the operation of the washing machine, the laundry inside is constantly moving, the fabric is stretched and compressed, water with detergent penetrates through the pores.

The ancient ways of washing are based on creating the movement of water and fabric.

The simplest ancient method of washing is boiling. During boiling, a natural movement of water occurs.

These are bars made from a single piece of wood with a smooth part and a handle. Soaped linen was folded on a flat surface and the dirt was beaten out with a roller with force. After that, the laundry was rinsed in a river or a tub of water.

Washing with clothes rolls in Germany in the first half of the 16th century. Leaf from the alchemical treatise "The Splendor of the Sun". Mikhail Yuryevich Medvedev, member of the Heraldic Council under the President of the Russian Federation: “Washing symbolized purification through contact with water. “Go to the women who wash fabrics and do the same” is a typical advice from an alchemical treatise.

Each region of Russia had its own traditions of decorating linen rolls. In the photo - the Volga valek of the beginning of the 19th century. From left to right - the first circle symbolizes the sun. The rider inside the second circle denotes the connection of the natural forces of the sun, lightning, thunder. Human figures - soldiers in uniforms

In the UK, clothes were washed in a tall tub with a long wooden stick. The principle is similar to a mortar and pestle - the women quickly raised and lowered the roller in the tub, as if they were pushing laundry. A flat wooden plate with 4–8 legs, similar to a stool, or a metal cone, was attached to the end, which sank into the water. Water during washing passed through the legs of a stool or holes in the cone - this increased the movement of water in the tub

Washboards

Washboards are wide and flat wooden plates with a ribbed surface. They rubbed linen across the notches.

In 1833, Stephen Rust of the American city of Manlius patented a washboard with a metal corrugated insert. The text of the patent stated that it could be made of "tin, sheet iron, copper or zinc."

According to Lel Gratton, washboards with glass inserts appeared before Herman Liebman patented them in 1844.

Lee Maxwell, a researcher on the history of washing machines, refers to washboards as a Russian rubel - a narrow long bar with a ribbed surface and a handle.

Russian peasant women wound wet, soaped linen on a rolling pin and rubbed it with force with the ribbed part of the rubel. In order for the rubels to be durable and withstand heavy loads, artisans made them from hardwoods - birch, oak, ash, elm. They decorated the front part of the vrubel and the handle with carved ornaments. The rubel was also used as an iron

Read about the history of dry cleaners: part 1 and part 2