Thursday, March 18, 2010

The history of aprons

I don't think our kids know what an apron is.
The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.


I received this as an email and here is my input. My kids and myself do know what an apron is and how to use one. We even make our own. I am pretty sure though that this is not necessarily a common thing.

I taught a soap making class the other day and the ladies didn't bring their own aprons so I lent them each one of ours and was embarrassed to see that every apron was dirty. We use our aprons and apparently don't launder them as often as we should. Needless to say they all got washed after the class.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Aprons are a mother's, keeper of the home's best friend!

My apron is with me day in and day out. My children know that when I have my apron on, it is that I am ready to begin my day's work. It is almost like my uniform.

Yes, aprons are not as used as before, but I am glad that I know what they are :)

Nice post.

Maria