Theophilia Elisabeth Franziska Felicitas von der Pfalz

What people wore

Prized festive headscarf knots

Peasant women wore delicate, thin, and richly decorated festive headscarves, which they carefully removed after church to avoid undoing their intricate, highly-prized knots.

Getting around

Slow Daily Travel Pace

Land journeys were slow and difficult, averaging only 25 to 30 kilometers per day for most travelers, often due to poor roads and lack of comfortable inns.

At the table

Annual alcohol consumption habits

Ordinary citizens typically drank about 3 liters of vodka and 60 liters of weak beer annually, with beer often consumed in substantial quantities without set limits.

Music

Easter Wishing Songs in Podlasie

On Easter, groups of men went house to house singing wishing songs called konopielki for girls and wołoczebne for the household, often following a performance of the song Christ is Risen.

Daily life

Lighting and bathing conveniences

Lighting was often provided by tallow candles made from animal fat, which were cheaper than beeswax candles, while some window openings in poorer homes were covered with greased paper or animal bladder instead of glass. Baths in larger urban palaces could be quite sophisticated with external heating systems, whereas smaller households relied on basic domestic containers.

What it cost

Huge inequality in food consumption

While ordinary townspeople struggled to afford meat, magnate courts consumed massive quantities of food, such as 15 sheep and 5 oxen or heifers weekly.