The church played a large role in enforcing morality. Every decent person went to church and moral transgressors were called out to the front of the congregation and denounced before the entire community.
that is the impression I got
church controlled everything
I read the " literature" book in their school
nothing but bible passages
you had to go to church and follow their rules or no one would do business with you is what I was told IE if you were a non believer then you kept quiet and pretended to believe
no work on the lords day - you had to milk the cows so that would have been allowed but dumped the milk IE no making cheese
Unfortunately, there was no actor playing the part of the preacher
I would have loved a discussion with him and discussed the Transcendentalists movement alive at that time led by Ralph Waldo Emerson , assuming the actor was well versed scholar in such issues
They believed that organized religion corrupts the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when independent. Even with this necessary individuality, transcendentalists also believe that all people possess a piece of the "Over-soul" . Because the Over-soul is one, this unites all people as one being. That is what I believe. It is up to you to discover God.
I doubt such a movement was alive in a rural village or ever discussed in church other than it being evil
throwing milk out every seventh day instead of making a money producer like cheese that was in demand across europe is pathetic
another thing I found out was milk was only produced in season as it takes a lot of feed to keep a cow producing milk through out the year and back then only one cow would have been feed to produce milk in the winter so the short season to make cheese was cut by one seventh and that would be a huge percentage of profit
all that profit lost to desperate families because of church morals .....
other stuff I learned:
oxen are any castrated bull . I thought they were a separate species
they planted gardens in mounds as the raised earth extended growing season because the mounds were warmer than surrounding earth
the bigger your top hat the more important you were
a lit fire place in the summer actually kept room cooler
corporal punishment in school was to have a lad hold fire wood with his arms extended
you were taught to write with right hand as left handers would smear the ink with their forearm because we write left to right
