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wrote:
>
> Gregory Morrow > wrote:
>
> > Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath
> > in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were
> > starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide
> > the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting
> > married.
>
> Really? If I go for a couple of days without a bath, I start to get
> very aromatic! The only time I do not take a bath is when I am sick
> and I know I will not be going out at all that day.
>
<snip>

People bathed far more than once a year, although lacking easily
available hot water in winter it was hardly daily. Religous festivals
often required ablutions for purification and there were a lot of those
every year. Certainly since Roman times, there were well-used public
baths in most European towns.

While nosegays/bouquets were sometimes carried to mask general odours,
they were believed to ward off disease, particularly the Plague.