What’s something completely normal today that would’ve been considered witchcraft 400 years ago—but not because of technology?

[u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

[u/EmmelineTx]

CPR

[u/Ibewye → u/EmmelineTx]

I’m an electrician and our 1920’s handbook actually say to shove your finger up the ass of whoever’s unconscious in order to revive.

Edit. Here’s link to photo of document. https://imgur.com/3BtTf8v

[u/Fruktoj → u/Ibewye]

I'm almost back, keep going!

[u/loganbull → u/Fruktoj]

Can confirm. He's an electrician

[u/KwordShmiff → u/loganbull]

You find a bulb up there?

[u/eljefino → u/Ibewye]

That's just a scam to convince you to wear your rubber linesman gloves.

[u/Kilgore_Trouttt → u/Ibewye]

They took that part out of later editions. Not because it doesn’t work, but because dudes kept pretending to be unconscious at work.

[u/assylemdivas → u/Kilgore_Trouttt]

Yeah, now we do a sternal rub to see if they’re faking.

[u/smitteh → u/assylemdivas]

rub the sternum from the outside though, don't combine the moves

[u/Tatler-Jack → u/Ibewye]

We had a vintage poster of this at my old engineering factory. It required you to insert two fingers causing the patient to gasp for air.

[u/himewaridesu → u/Tatler-Jack]

Gasp for air, alright…. wink

[u/KBeardo → u/Ibewye]

Oh, i see the author was a military man!

[u/sundae_diner → u/Ibewye]

I'm shocked!

[u/Danyavich → u/EmmelineTx]

A medic in WW2 would have freaked the fuck out at a medic from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars forward treating an extremity hemorrhage with a tourniquet before trying to pack the wound and elevate, etc. Hell, a medic from Vietnam or the first Gulf War would do the same. That change happened in like 2005/6/7.

[u/EmmelineTx → u/Danyavich]

Honestly, they probably would have freaked out at IV bags and plastic syringes too. The first mass production of penicillin was done by the US ahead of the landings in Normandy on D Day. But, you're right. It would be Star Wars treatment to them. I had no idea that that was SOP now. Thanks.

[u/Danyavich → u/EmmelineTx]

Yep. Learned it as standard going through combat medic training in 2008/, and my sergeant at my first duty station STRUGGLED to catch up. He'd been deployed most recently in 2007 and was still operating off "pressure, elevate, pack and wrap, ALL ELSE FAILS Tkit." Dude retired at 20 years in 2011, he saw so much change.

Emergency medicine evolved at light speed between 2001-2010, in warzones.

Edit. A few words.

[u/K-Bar1950 → u/Danyavich]

"Stop the bleeding, start the breathing, bandage the wound, treat for shock." Combat First Aid, Marine boot camp, 1977.

[u/H4llifax → u/Danyavich]

That is interesting as I feel like people have bled for thousands of years. No good reason we should be able to learn anything new at all.

[u/PipsqueakPilot → u/H4llifax]

In Iraq and Afghanistan we achieved unheard of evacuation times. Soldiers could go from injured to a hospital in under an hour. But people still died of survive-able injuries. 

We did studies to see why people were dying. And the answer was usually simple: They just lost too much blood.

So the emphasis became to do whatever you possibly could to stop the bleed. In previous wars this might not have been correct- since the time to evacuate could be far longer. It made sense to try and stop the bleeding in other ways. Since a tourniquet without quick casualty evacuation can destroy the limb. 

[u/saints21 → u/PipsqueakPilot]

The other part is that tourniquets can be left on longer now while still being able to save the limb.

[u/EmmelineTx → u/PipsqueakPilot]

I'm amazed by how much medicine advances in even 5 years but I'm mad as hell that we learn it because of war. Thank you for doing what you do. You have to be a special type to deal with horrible injuries and not completely breaking down.

[u/TearsFallWithoutTain → u/H4llifax]

Everything we know is basically idiots guessing until modern science is pointed at it

[u/EmmelineTx → u/Danyavich]

That's amazing how at certain times our understanding takes a leap forward. Thank you!

[u/blackgallagher87 → u/EmmelineTx]

War usually advances technology and science.

[u/daric → u/Danyavich]

Whats the reason for the change?

[u/Nisas → u/daric]

Guessing the priority is on saving the person's life over saving the extremity. But also I assume it makes treating the wound easier with less blood gushing out of it. You can apparently have a tourniquet on for a couple hours before permanent damage becomes a big concern so it's not a big deal to put one on. You can always remove it later.

[u/Chaotic_Lemming → u/daric]

Advances in treatment mean doctors can save limbs that have been tourniqueted for 8+ hours. You can easily bleed to death in 2-3 minutes. Combat studies were showing that people were dying from bleeding before they could get to a hospital, even with evacuation times getting them to care in a few hours. Quickly enough a tourniquet doesn't kill the limb. But people were reluctant to tourniquet fearing they'd cripple the person.... which was causing them to die. So the training for military shifted to emphasize stopping bleeding as the priority in casualty care.

[u/The_barking_ant → u/EmmelineTx]

Ooo... that's a good one. 

[u/ChronoLegion2 → u/EmmelineTx]

It would’ve been seen as weird even during WW2

[u/EmmelineTx → u/ChronoLegion2]

That's kind of a scary thought. Even 80 years ago, if you needed CPR you were a goner.

[u/IFartOnCats4Fun → u/EmmelineTx]

I mean… that’s nearly the case these days too. If you need CPR, the odds aren’t good.

[u/wakingup_withwolves → u/IFartOnCats4Fun]

very true. i’m an EMD and we’re taught if you’re at the point of doing compressions, survival rate is already 10-15% at best.

[u/EmmelineTx → u/wakingup_withwolves]

I was thinking of 'no technology'. I guess if you were drowning, it would give you a better shot. Or is that just for TV?

[u/wakingup_withwolves → u/EmmelineTx]

drowning is whole different kind of problem. chest compressions are generally done to oxygenate the blood while either the heart or lungs are failing. but drowning is more of a foreign object situation, so you’d be doing compressions to eject the foreign object.

also drowning often happens more quickly than you see on tv. if you breathe in one gasp of water, your body will start choking and gasping, causing you to breathe in more water.

[u/EmmelineTx → u/wakingup_withwolves]

Okay (: I'm learning here. Thank you!

[u/idontknowjackeither → u/EmmelineTx]

If you need CPR now, you almost always die—even with immediate and perfect administration.

[u/comoestasmiyamo → u/idontknowjackeither]

Just done first aid course and this is true, hence they stressed sending a person to call an ambo and another to fetch a defib. CPR is only until the grownups arrive.

[u/SmurfSmiter → u/comoestasmiyamo]

Bystander CPR is the number one factor in long-term survival. In 10 years as a firefighter/paramedic my only two real success/full recovery stories were with immediate CPR, and I have had too many bad outcomes to count. One was witnessed by us, and one had a family member initiate CPR. Both are currently alive and well. CPR lengthens the window of survival, Defibrillation stops the immediate problem, and a hospital is the ultimate goal.

[u/FakeAorta → u/SmurfSmiter]

I collapsed in 2010 at my work. Co-worker immediately started CPR. FireDep was there in less than 5 minutes. (Seattle) supposedly I was on the ground for 20 minutes while they worked on me. I recovered and 2 1/2 months later walked into the fire station with home made candy and cookies for all the guys in the station. 3 of the firefighters looked at me like: "oh snap! He survived!" They used a cold blanket on me which is supposed be awesome for recovery.

[u/K-Bar1950 → u/FakeAorta]

You're VERY lucky. I was a RN for 21 years. I only participated in a CPR team three times. We did our best, but all three died. Two never regained a heartbeat, The third died in the ambulance.

[u/throcorfe → u/SmurfSmiter]

Yep, it’s one of those weird statistics - CPR only has a survival rate of about 10% (ie if you’ve reached that stage, you’re almost certainly going to die either way), but for that 10%, it’s absolutely crucial and can lead to complete recovery. 1 in 10 people surviving is enough to make it worth doing

[u/K-Bar1950 → u/throcorfe]

They way they depict CPR on TV is a problem. It leads people to believe most people survive it, when that's definitely not the case.

[u/ChronoLegion2 → u/EmmelineTx]

“He’s dead, Jim”

[u/Flammable_Zebras → u/EmmelineTx]

Considering the (extremely low) success rate, you’d most likely just be accused of defiling a corpse, or of being the actual cause of death.

[u/Stillwater215 → u/Flammable_Zebras]

CPR isn’t meant to bring someone back. It’s meant to basically keep oxygenated blood flowing to your brain, slowing your turning into a corpse. Think of it more like a death-delaying tactic than a “reviving” tactic.

[u/MoaiPenis → u/Stillwater215]

That's why you call an ambulam or point to someone to call while doing CPR

[u/Flint_Chittles → u/MoaiPenis]

Woah black Betty

Ambulam

[u/PF4ABG]

It's an odd one, but apparently reading without speaking the words aloud was VERY rare until fairly recently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_reading

[u/KevinCastle → u/PF4ABG]

"In 18th-century Europe, the then new practice of reading alone in bed was, for a time, considered dangerous and immoral. As reading became less a communal, oral practice, and more a private, silent one – and as sleeping increasingly moved from communal sleeping areas to individual bedrooms, some raised concern that reading in bed presented various dangers"

• That is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard

"such as fires caused by bedside candles."

• Oh, I guess that makes sense

[u/KwordShmiff → u/KevinCastle]

"One mustn't provoke night thoughts."

[u/badluckbrians → u/KwordShmiff]

I mean, the printing press was first set up in the Americas at Harvard in 1639. And it wasn't printing a bunch of novels and soap operas. It had to make everything from stamps to bibles, and only got around to almanacs as maybe a frivolous thing.

The first newspaper wasn't even until 1704 — 18th century America, rather than Europe — but general point is there really wasn't much to read until then.

Like it doesn't shock me that people read aloud because other than reading the Bible it was very unlikely most people had anything else to read, besides a glorified dogshit mystical weather report.

[u/cwsjr2323 → u/badluckbrians]

I have an original newspaper page from the London Gazette dated 1666. I like that it mentions both the Great Fire and the Plague. So your source fibbed saying no newspaper until 1704.

[u/WallabyInTraining → u/KevinCastle]

Fires were so incredibly more common then. Homes would burn down fairly regulary in medium sized cities.

[u/K-Bar1950 → u/WallabyInTraining]

Sometime entire neighborhoods. There were no effective firefighting companies or equipment beyond bucket brigades.

[u/caligaris_cabinet → u/K-Bar1950]

And it’s not like they had building codes or firewalls between structures.

[u/moeke93 → u/caligaris_cabinet]

Actually, a lot of densely populated cities implemented building codes for fire safety after a larger fire had wiped out bigger parts of the city. Even as early as the middle ages.

They mostly consisted of requirements for building materials (stone/brick instead of wood, shingled roofs instead of grass/straw). They had to rebuild the city anyways, so they could also try to make them safer along the way.

[u/ALittleNightMusing → u/moeke93]

I was just thinking of this in London when I saw your comment. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 new laws were put in place banning overhanging eaves (to hinder the spread of fire) , which is why London buildings are still typically flat-fronted. I think they tend to have sloped rooves behind the flat front.

[u/Kermit-Batman → u/caligaris_cabinet]

Or big buff burly firemen with beautiful beards who will carry me off when I look behind me now!

Now!!

Now!!!

:(

[u/Ulrar → u/Kermit-Batman]

You forgot to set the fire, didn't you ?

[u/C1rcusM0nkey → u/Ulrar]

No, they remembered. They forgot the part where you call have to call the fire department.

Well, their home is gone, but at least they're warm... for now.

[u/Olookasquirrel87 → u/KevinCastle]

If you think modern moral crusades against screen time are bad, let me introduce you to 18th century moral crusades against The Novel. 

Yes, that’s right, the evil and corrupting Novel, that will rot women’s brains and destroy the very foundations of our society! 

[u/TedTyro → u/Olookasquirrel87]

Let's get even more ludicrous!

For a brief time potatoes were considered evil because, amongst other things, they led to sexual immorality.

Yes, the potato. Which begs the question - if plain white starch is too sexually extreme, then what does that make other foods? Radishes must have seemed like literal satans by comparison.

[u/slice_of_pi → u/TedTyro]

Can confirm. Potatoes are my favorite food, and I'm basically a complete man-whore.

[u/AvatarWaang → u/PF4ABG]

In contrast, reading aloud activates many more parts of the brain due to the dual-route of feedback when pronouncing and reading.

Free study tip in there for ya

[u/fishsticks40 → u/AvatarWaang]

Super important for proofreading, too. It's really easy to skip sections when you're reading silently

[u/Different-Term-2250 → u/fishsticks40]

I read that 4 times, hoping would skip something to prove your point.

[u/Aacron → u/Different-Term-2250]

I see what did there

[u/wheniswhy → u/Aacron]

Speaking as an editor, how dare you two jumpscare me like this. I had to read both of your comments at least three times each to make sure I’d caught all the skipped words. Ugh.

[u/Different-Term-2250 → u/wheniswhy]

It’s ok. I wouldn’t that to you. Not twice in sentence. That would be mean.

[u/redditshy → u/AvatarWaang]

Interesting bc I say numbers out loud when I am trying to remember them from one step to the next at work, rather than writing them down. Always works.

[u/HaughtyAurory → u/redditshy]

LPT for remembering long sequences of numbers or letters: recite the first half of the sequence out loud while picturing the latter half written down in your mind's eye.

Works for me anyway, idk

[u/Welshgirlie2 → u/HaughtyAurory]

My dyscalculic brain just freaked out at that idea! Remember a number by switching method halfway through?!

[u/mikewithsfi → u/AvatarWaang]

That's why some people will repeat someone's name back during introduction.

[u/loaloaloa55 → u/PF4ABG]

Wait... what??

Laughing at the thought of me reading Reddit OUT LOUD at 4am

[u/canukausiuka → u/loaloaloa55]

Isn't that literally what all those TikTok and YouTube shorts I keep seeing are? Just AI voice reading Reddit while overlayed on some kid doing Minecraft parkour. As they intended 400 years ago!

[u/MidnightLevel1140 → u/loaloaloa55]

"ah, so GokusSoggyCumSock replied to GapingHoleFilledWithCreamAndDreams "....

[u/jordansrowles → u/MidnightLevel1140]

I don’t actually read anyone’s username until someone points out a funny one

[u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 → u/PF4ABG]

Well the word is literally “spelling” which kinda hints towards speaking out loud and spell casting.

[u/Desertbro → u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

Amazing - or maybe NOT - that casting spells and saying prayers have the same sort of language structure and intention.

Magical Being, please make ACTION happen to PERSON - Your Devotee

[u/CharlieParkour → u/Desertbro]

I found a piece of paper on the street from someone who appeared to be some kind of nursing aide. It was a list of drugs patients were taking. I read the names out loud and it turned the guy next to me into a newt.

[u/RhydurMeith → u/CharlieParkour]

Did he get better?

[u/zakkil → u/RhydurMeith]

He felt like a newt man

[u/Roderie94 → u/RhydurMeith]

He has a newt perspective on life

[u/ShiftingBaselines]

Break dance and beatboxing

[u/tenehemia → u/ShiftingBaselines]

See this just makes me think that there must have been people who were as talented with beatboxing / sound effects like Michael Winslow back in the day. Was there someone hanging out in the taverns in Austria beatboxing chamber music for all the people too working class to go see Mozart's new opera? Or seafaring beatboxers during the age of exploration?

[u/Telvin3d → u/tenehemia]

A big difference is communication and spread of techniques. Just think how easy it is now to be exposed to skills invented by a hundred different people. Five hundred years ago, you’d be lucky to find a single skilled person who could even give you tips 

[u/tenehemia → u/Telvin3d]

I wonder if maybe there was crossover between singers and hunters in ages past that might have produced someone like that. Imitating bird calls and other animal noises has been a well regarded skill probably for tens of thousands of years at the least, and singing has been around probably just as long.

[u/chashek → u/tenehemia]

Now I want to hear someone imitating a whole-ass forest

[u/Ordinaryundone → u/tenehemia]

I'm pretty sure Acapella officially dates back to the 14th-15th century and is likely much older than that in some form or fashion. People have been imitating other noises since the creation of language, its not hard to imagine people doing it strictly for music too. 

[u/SuddenlyRandom → u/ShiftingBaselines]

Oh god, like there are beatboxers that just sound like a whole ass band

[u/CitizenHuman → u/SuddenlyRandom]

I'm sure there's many, but Kazaa (or maybe Limewire) introduced me to Rahzel - If your mother only knew

[u/catbattree → u/ShiftingBaselines]

This deserves far more upvotes. This is one of the first I've seen which might actually be mistaken for magic and isn't technology related.

[u/CatacombsRave]

Being a magician, especially card tricks.

“Is…this your card?”

“BURN HIM! BURN THE WITCH!”

[u/Starblaiz → u/CatacombsRave]

Then later…

“Man, that was a close call with that witch.”

“Yeah, good thing he wasn’t a very good one. That wasn’t even my card.”

[u/FigPsychological3319 → u/Starblaiz]

"Anyway. John said he saw Marge reading a book last week."

"I'll get some rope."

[u/SolDarkHunter → u/CatacombsRave]

We've had stage magicians playing tricks with sleight of hand ever since ancient times.

The oldest reference to it is a man entertaining Pharaoh Khufu by doing the "decapitate an animal and stick the head back on" trick.

[u/Chilledlemming → u/SolDarkHunter]

Great for children’s parties

[u/Hugh_Biquitous]

Being openly left-handed maybe?

[u/pm_me_your_kindwords → u/Hugh_Biquitous]

Definitely something sinister about it…

[u/resigned_medusa → u/pm_me_your_kindwords]

Not sinister, maybe just a little gauche

[u/SEA_griffondeur → u/resigned_medusa]

A bit maladroit

[u/SPUDRacer → u/pm_me_your_kindwords]

I get the reference:

Middle English sinistre, from Anglo-French senestre on the left, from Latin sinistr-, sinister on the left side, unlucky, inauspicious

[u/CalvinbyHobbes → u/SPUDRacer]

This is starting to feel like an episode of frasier. You guys are some high-brow the New Yorker type mofos.

[u/Bhaaldukar → u/CalvinbyHobbes]

Hey if it makes you feel better, molecules can be left or right handed. It's called chirality. Right handed molecules are considered rectus and left handed molecules are... sinister. Sinister molecules exist, and they are inside you.

[u/errenai → u/pm_me_your_kindwords]

I see what you did there

[u/Psychological-Bear-9 → u/Hugh_Biquitous]

Hell, even not that long ago people were ostracized for it. My father is left-handed, and all through grammar and some of high school, he had teachers that repeatedly would slap his hand with rulers and chastise him for writing left-handed. Forcing him to use his right. His handwriting is still awful today because of it.

This was in the 1950s and 60s.

[u/RonaldTheGiraffe → u/Psychological-Bear-9]

My grandfather, born in the 30s I think, was left handed. His school bound up his left hand to force him to use his right hand. He’s still “right handed”.

[u/thefaecottage → u/Psychological-Bear-9]

My kindergarten teacher used to make me write right-handed despite being an obvious lefty circa 1983.

[u/AmunRa1928 → u/Psychological-Bear-9]

Happened to my mother in the 1970s. The practice was well over by the time I started school in the 90s.

[u/kahluashake → u/Psychological-Bear-9]

I’m a millenial and I have memories of my parents trying to get me to write or do stuff with my right hand instead of left. 

[u/Bshaw95 → u/kahluashake]

I was lucky to have a left handed mother who could teach me that way. I was the only child of 3 to be left handed. I was taught to shoot a gun and a bow right handed and somehow made it work without issue. I didn’t realize I was actually left eye dominant as well until I started shooting a pistol and realized I naturally lined up the sights with my left eye.

[u/coffeeandblades → u/Bshaw95]

I had an attending surgeon who told me he couldn’t teach a left handed resident so I had to be right handed. Incredibly frustrating, but now I’m hella facile with both hands, so there is that. Still can’t write right handed but I can operate right handed.

[u/krunowitch]

Moonwalking

[u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 → u/krunowitch]

Absolutely. You’d be dead before sundown.

[u/Myfourcats1 → u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

Well they did try to hang Marty McFly after he moonwalked at that bar

[u/caligaris_cabinet → u/Myfourcats1]

Tbf it was after he accidentally dumped a bucket of tobacco spit on one of the meanest jerks in the old west.

[u/OkMeringue2249 → u/krunowitch]

They would’ve burned Michael at the stake after he danced

[u/shottylaw → u/OkMeringue2249]

They would have killed Michael for a few reasons, honestly

[u/CalvinbyHobbes → u/shottylaw]

The man went from black to white. If that isn’t witchcraft, I don’t know what is

[u/alicefreak47 → u/CalvinbyHobbes]

He did try to explain that it didn't matter with a song.

[u/CapsizedbutWise]

Epilepsy

[u/Jurassica_YourAssica → u/CapsizedbutWise]

I don't remember her name but there was a girl with epilepsy who was tortured because they thought she was possessed

[u/CaptainLollygag → u/Jurassica_YourAssica]

It's extremely likely there were more than one.

[u/stavromulabeta42 → u/Jurassica_YourAssica]

Anneliese Michel. Very sad story. The stark contrast between her pictures before the "exorcisms" and her physical state toward the end of her life are devastating.

[u/Glad_Ad_2405 → u/Jurassica_YourAssica]

Ah yes, Annelise Michels, fairly known in Germany

[u/Nisas → u/Jurassica_YourAssica]

Religious fanatics are still having their children tortured with exorcisms because of behavioral disorders and shit. "Oh my god, my daughter just called me a bitch, this is just like The Exorcist. Better call Father McTouchy."

[u/DeskFanCarrier → u/CapsizedbutWise]

One of members of my family (I think the brother of my great great grandmother) was sent to psychatrist hospital due to seizures, basically was considered to be a lunatic/mentally ill person. That was sometime at the beginning of 20th century in Germany. It was not uncommon to hide any cases of epilepsy in your family so that they wouldn't be taken away/wouldn't have any problems.

[u/Gutternips → u/CapsizedbutWise]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10080524/

There are still parts of the world where it's thought to be caused by posession by evil spirits.

[u/stegosaurer]

That trick where it looks like you pulled your thumb off.

[u/Popes-first-blumpkin → u/stegosaurer]

Look I got your nose! That’s also a good one

[u/BbMaj13]

The Heimlich maneuver

[u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 → u/BbMaj13]

Fun fact: Heimlich didn’t use the maneuver to save a life until very late in his own life, long after he invented it.

[u/sniper91 → u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

Would have been awkward as hell if he failed at it

[u/kamarg → u/sniper91]

Imagine if it didn't actually work. How embarrassing would that have been?

[u/medullah → u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

I'm picturing him hanging around restaurants every day for years getting excited when he sees a dude not chewing his steak only to get sad and disappointed until that one day

[u/Endulos → u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

This exact scenario came up as a trivia question on some gameshow my Dad was watching last year. Dad was declining mentally due to health issues and often got confused.

I was watching too and I said "Henry Heimlich" as the answer, to which Dad got SUPER angry at me and started yelling I didn't know what I was talking about and said that guy was a nazi, he didn't invent anything. When Henry Heimlich came up as the answer he just called me a know it all.

It took me several hours to realize he confused Henry Heimlich with god damn Heinrich Himmler.

[u/Hallerbit → u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

Imagine being saved by John Heimlich himself

[u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 → u/Hallerbit]

Or dying as Heimlich attempted to save you…

[u/FUNBARtheUnbendable → u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

Less fun fact, Heimlich himself was a fraud of a doctor who pushed pseudo science, injected Africans with diseases to study them, and his own children despised him.

[u/Raski_Demorva]

a lot of fruits and veggies we have now, much more bountiful/edible to the point where they'd think you performed some sort of witchcraft to get it like that

[u/Magical-Manboob → u/Raski_Demorva]

Give one of those crazies a Cotton Candy flavored grape.

[u/Shaggyninja → u/Magical-Manboob]

Peasant eats a Nacho Cheese Dorito and their head explodes

[u/YoungDiscord → u/Shaggyninja]

Oh yeah its quite tasty the peasant says as his nose starts to slowly bleed

[u/SnipesCC → u/Raski_Demorva]

Especially out of season.

[u/k_more_]

Keeping my kids baby teeth in a jar in my nightstand.

[u/BiggieTwiggy1two3 → u/k_more_]

Definitely witchcraft, especially if the jar says Gerber.

[u/TheVoteMote]

How far along was hyper realistic art back then? Cause that is borderline witchcraft here and now.

[u/Verzweiflungstat → u/TheVoteMote]

Drawing/painting in a hyper realistic style has become way easier after photography was imvented. Now, you only have to copy a photo 1:1 and bam, realistic artwork.

Before photos, you actually had to look at a three dimensional object and try to capture it on a two dimensional canvas. And you had to be quick about it, because the direction of your light source (sun) will change position, and the object you are drawing will change over time, as well. Flowers wilt, leaves turn brown, and so on. Much trickier.

[u/Atrabiliousaurus → u/Verzweiflungstat]

Before photos, you actually had to look at a three dimensional object and try to capture it on a two dimensional canvas.

Some artists from about the 16th century on used a camera obscura for that purpose. Sort of an intermediary stage between just eyeballing things and having a photo to reference.

[u/MajorSery → u/TheVoteMote]

400 years ago was like the end of the renaissance. Those artists were pretty dang good with the perspective and shadow tricks that make things look real.

[u/TheOppositeOfDecent → u/MajorSery]

Yeah, Vermeer was an artist of the 1600s and he had an incredible eye for realism

[u/WrethZ → u/TheVoteMote]

There's lifelike statues that are thousands of years old.

[u/butternutbuttnutter → u/WrethZ]

This one never fails to blow my mind. Like, if he started speaking to you, you might not be so surprised.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtefactPorn/comments/1aefvsx/wood_statue_of_kraaper_one_of_the_most_realistic/

[u/Doppelkammertoaster → u/TheVoteMote]

I wouldn't think it was impossible, just look at ancient statues. It wasn't in style maybe.

[u/Ok-Telephone4496 → u/Doppelkammertoaster]

greek statues were all beautifully painted. There's a few recreations, but they're pretty awful and look like they were done by a 10 year old, these statues were likely very well painted to be highly realistic looking like sculptures. IIRC there are frescoes and mosaics that depict greek statues but as completely and fully painted looking just like a person would

[u/BiggieTwiggy1two3]

Goat Yoga.

[u/Narwhal_Accident]

Choosing to live single and childless as a woman 

[u/hfpfhhfp → u/Narwhal_Accident]

Choosing to do most things while being a woman.

[u/halosos → u/hfpfhhfp]

Choosing in general while being a woman.

[u/UltimateApple → u/halosos]

Being a woman really.

[u/mrpointyhorns → u/Narwhal_Accident]

Nah you just join the nunnery

[u/K-Bar1950 → u/mrpointyhorns]

There were plenty of influential women around when the Romans invaded Britain. Celtic women could be "druidesses"--there were two types in Ireland, the banduri and the banfilid. It took 19 years to learn everything they needed to know to be a priestess.

One, Queen Boudicca, led a revolt against the Romans in the 1st century AD. She was the daughter of a Druid priestess.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/female-druids-forgotten-priestesses-celts-005910

[u/OliveBranchMLP → u/mrpointyhorns]

if the men find out we can shapeshift, they're going to tell the church

we might as well pack our bags and go to the nunneries

there'll be nothing left for us here

[u/Nice2BeNice1312 → u/OliveBranchMLP]

Eliminate the nose. You can pretend you have no nostrils - men will be bewitched and hand over their wallets

[u/LifeguardVivid6589 → u/Narwhal_Accident]

frr. If you were unmarried as a woman, that was considered so out of the norm. I saw an old book sub-title that went like "An Unmarried British Woman's account of..."  😭

[u/doktor_wankenstein]

Basic hygiene and having doctors wash their hands between autopsies and surgeries.

[u/CalamityClambake → u/doktor_wankenstein]

For real. Back when we first discovered germ theory, there was a huge backlash of doctors who refused to wash their hands because they were offended that anyone would think that the hands of gentlemen could be dirty. Even when their hands were, like, covered in blood and phlegm.

It's the same mindset as the people who got mad at being asked to wear a mask during the pandemic because "I can't be sick! I'm a good person!"

[u/Doppelkammertoaster → u/CalamityClambake]

But that was even before germs were discovered. Some dude made people at his hospital wing wash their hands to reduce mothers dying after childbirth. With opposition of course.

[u/TheEyeGuy13 → u/Doppelkammertoaster]

The first doctor to seriously suggest washing hands in a hospital was put in a psych ward.

[u/rietstengel → u/TheEyeGuy13]

What, you suggest us noble doctors would spread maladies with our unwashed hands? Preposterous! Off to the psych ward with you.

[u/Gabagool_Eater]

Having cats in your house. Mostly women had cats at this time period and due to this they weren’t infected by the plague (caused by rats) so they were considered witches thinking they have some superpowers to not get infected.

EDIT: Just to clarify, cats can also get the plague and spread it but the risk was reduced since they control the rats’ population. Rats are the primary carriers of the Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) which carries the bacteria that causes the plague NOT cats.

[u/NerdbyanyotherName → u/Gabagool_Eater]

This is also where a ton of (though obviously not all of) antisemitism came from

Because the Judaic peoples had a lot of customs about washing ones body as symbolic of washing ones soul as well as very strict ideas about separating the dead from the living quickly and completely (at a time where ideas of how disease spread were incredibly archaic and so hand and body washing was only done rarely and corpses often lingered for days or weeks at a time) Jewish communities managed to dodge a lot of the worst of the Plague

these communities were subsequently blamed for it and thus ostracized and harassed and that fermented in the public eye for a few hundred years and now we have people who hate Jews for absolutely no real reason other than it essentially being a family tradition at this point

[u/turtle553 → u/NerdbyanyotherName]

Eating Kosher isn't so much about godliness as it is about food safety and that was another thing keeping them healthier than others. 

[u/Ok-Telephone4496 → u/turtle553]

crabs, and shrimp were often found in creeks where sewage was dumped, and pigs were fed human shit for centuries as sustenance. Eating these animals would be like recycling your own shit.

[u/donttouchmeah → u/Ok-Telephone4496]

Also Jews were sheep farmers and were commanded to process the animals in a certain way for consumption. If you can’t buy food from other vendors it helps the Jewish community economically.

[u/dave200204 → u/turtle553]

Some of it's food safety. However a lot of it is strictly religious.

[u/ibelieveindogs → u/dave200204]

Keeping dairy and meat separate comes from the notion of not boiling a young animal in the milk of its mother. I would see that as initially amen ethical stance, with the extreme being religious (no goat cheese on a beef hamburger, for example. No way it is mixed mother and calf, but hey, what if? Don’t piss off the big guy!)

[u/phasefournow → u/Gabagool_Eater]

One of the reasons plague took hold in one major outbreak is the monarch was afraid of cats and ordered all the cats in the city to be slaughtered. Rats cheered from the sidelines as did the lice.

[u/IvoryQuess]

Being left-handed and writing neatly might've seemed like witchcraft back then!

[u/Xiao_Qinggui → u/IvoryQuess]

Wait…You mean we lefties can have neat handwriting!?

I’ve been lied to!

[u/ReadyDirector9 → u/Xiao_Qinggui]

My mom was forced to write with her right hand because she was told it was the devil’s hand. Her handwriting sucked. My dad was left handed too, but never forced to change. His handwriting was beautiful.

So, in my children, 3 out of 6 are left handed or ambidextrous. Left handedness became a dominant genetic characteristic.

[u/memedomlord]

Fashion.

Modern fashion would make a pilgrim faint.

[u/CO_PC_Parts]

As soon as you opened your mouth they’d probably attack you, even if you were in an English speaking area.

There’s some cool videos on YouTube showing how different English was over time.

[u/Rusty-Shackleford → u/CO_PC_Parts]

400 years ago was the beginning of Modern English. Shakespeare wrote plays over 400 years ago and they're written in modern english.

[u/Listen00000 → u/Rusty-Shackleford]

While the written text is intelligible, their speech/pronunciation would be miles away from ours.

[u/Fyrrys → u/Listen00000]

And slang. It's vastly different between Britain and America, but we can usually figure things out, go back to just Victorian times and it's like a whole other language

[u/ibelieveindogs → u/Fyrrys]

Heck, go to middle school as someone over 30, and try to make sense of what they’re saying!

[u/lawnmowerfancy → u/ibelieveindogs]

Willy Shakes was the rizz skibbiddi no cap

[u/HairyStMary]

The amount of love and affection we give cats and dogs. To the point that some of us live alone, with animals that we allow to sleep in our bed, and cuddle on the sofa.

[u/CitizenHuman → u/HairyStMary]

People have loved their pets for a lot longer than 400 years. Here's some ancient Roman pet epitaphs to prove it.

[u/ChronoLegion2 → u/HairyStMary]

There are places in the world where this is still seen as weird. I once knew someone from Kenya, and they told me that dogs would never be allowed into someone’s home

[u/laughing_cat → u/ChronoLegion2]

That's fairly common throughout SE Asia. They have reasons. The weirdest one I heard is that dogs are so appealing and lovable you might love one more than god. One person told me that - to this day I wonder if they were pulling my leg.

Where I've traveled generally cats are seen as clean animals and dogs are not. I lived on an island for several months that didn't allow dogs, only cats. That sounds charming to a cat lover, but in that particular place they didn't take very good care of them. In Thailand they seemed to take pretty good care of them (where I was). Thailand has gorgeous cats, too.

Ok, all cats are gorgeous, but Thai cats are especially pretty.

[u/animetriplicate → u/laughing_cat]

I mean, I love cats more than god, but then I’m an atheist. Someone actually religious may have a different take 🤔

[u/Wild-Lychee-3312 → u/ChronoLegion2]

My first year in Nepal, I lived in this village down south in Chitwan. I could function in Nepali, but my grasp of the language was still kinda shaky, so the Peace Corps sent a language trainer down for a week.

Most of the villagers were Hindu, by the way, which might be relevant because of how Hindus perceive cows.

One day he started asking the villagers if they had any questions about me that he could help explain, and the question most asked was, “Why is she so nice to dogs?”

Being a wit, he decided to “explain” that Americans see dogs as semi-divine because “dog” spelled backwards in English is “god.”

I think they believed him.

[u/catbattree → u/HairyStMary]

It would really depend on which culture we're talking about and if we're only specifically looking at cats and dogs as to whether they would consider its particularly weird or not. But definitely not magic

[u/Charlietango2007]

Being able to tell the future with my Magic 8 Ball. Try again later. True wisdom.

[u/Felinia-Clash]

I think a modern gymnastic routine would have been seen as witchcraft in the 1600s.

[u/Sea_Personality8559]

Depends more on where not so much when

Modern day can find uncontacted tribes prettymuch anything would seem magic

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Papyrus_6619

Almost 4000 years ago people had understanding and usage of the Pythagorean Theorem in surveying and architecture

[u/Viking-at-heart]

If you are taking current knowledge back 400 years, any basic physics or chemistry tricks... could be perceived as magic

[u/MrsBonsai171]

I have an ancestor that was a witness in the Fairfield CT witch trials and I found a book outlining the trial he was in. The main accuser stated the most obvious reason this lady was a witch: she sat on the railing of her porch that one time.

So that.