English Life during the Elizabeathan era.

1. English Life during the Elizabeathan era. Skye Simon, Elyzah Reyes, Aaliyah Stoke

2. English Food • The food varies according to status and wealth especially meat. The food is prepared for great visual effects. Peacock feathers are used to decorate cooked meals. The foods were presented in strange shapes and forms. The lower class workers ate bread and cheese. Water was not used because it was dirty at the time. The villagers drank wine and ale. Honey was used to make a sweet alcohol drink called mead. They also drank “Apple-wine” and beer. Increased cultivation of fruit trees.

3. Celebrations and Holidays Festivals and holidays were a major part of the Elizabeathan lifestyle. They were made by mostly churches and the law made villagers go. In the Spring Easter is in March and it celebrates the crucifix and resurrection of Christ. They had plays about Christ. April fools was on April 1st were all rules were non existence on that day. May day is when individuals chose a queen for the month and dance around a “maypole” covered in ribbons and flowers. Solstice in June is when villagers attend the “festival of fire”. People throw bones in a bonfire .July 15th was Swithin’s day celebrating a bishop and its supposed to rain for 40 days. Lammastide which is “ Lammas day” is the first wheat harvest of the year. September 29th is Michaelmas day. In the winter great feasts were held in honor of Christsbirth. 12 days in honor of 12 apostles.

4. Fashion • Elizabethan Women's Clothing - gowns, hats, corsets, underwear, collars, ruffs andshoes. • Elizabethan Men's Clothing - doublets, breeches, underwear, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes. regardless of their wealth, Elizabethans were not allowed to wear what clothes they liked.Their clothing and items of apparel were dictated by the Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws which governed the style and materials worn. The Elizabethan Sumptuary Clothing Laws were used to control behavior and to ensure that a specific class structure was maintained.

5. Social life • The Elizabethan era was during the reign of Elizabeth I, and life in this time depended on your status and location; the rich and royal lived luxuriously while the poor were subjected to menial jobs to survive. Life was busiest during harvest seasons and hay making periods. Women were subservient to men and had to endure arranged marriages.Diseases ran rampant among the peasents.

6. Geography and Economy • England comprises most of the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain. Much of England consists of rolling hills, but it is generally more mountainous in the north with a chain of mountains. England has a temperate climate with plentiful rainfall all year round. The seasons are quite variable in temperature, however temperatures rarely fall below −5 °C (23 °F) or rise above 30 °C (86 °F). The prevailing wind is from the south-west, bringing mild and wet weather to England regularly from the Atlantic Ocean. At the time Elizabeth inherited the throne of England, the English treasury had virtually no money, mostly because of the cost of financing the wars of Phillip II. The most important commodity in the English economy was woollencloth.Elizabeth had a major hand in the English economy. To the detriment of England, she largely increased the number of monopolies .

7. Reference • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/elizabethanera • http://www.elizabethan-era.org.hk/elizabethan-foodera • http://ask.com • http://elizabethan-era.org • http://enterainmentguide.local.com