The answer to this question is not as simple as it seems. Washing hands has at least two stories: one related to religious and cultural traditions going back to ancient times, and another — with the scientific realization of the importance of hygiene for health, which only occurred in the 19th century.

Ancient Traditions: Rituals of Purity

The earliest evidence of hand washing is not related to medicine, but to religious rituals. In the cultures of Ancient Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt, ritual bathing was an important part of daily life. For example, recipes for soap were found on clay tablets in Mesopotamia, and an ancient Egyptian papyrus (around 1500 BC) describes compositions for cleansing.

In the ancient world, especially in Ancient Rome, hygiene was at a high level. Wealthy Romans washed their hands before meals, while slaves poured water from jugs. Vinegar was often added to the water for disinfection. However, this was more the norm for the affluent classes rather than a widespread practice.

Medieval Age: One Step Back and Traditions

In medieval Europe, public baths existed, but washing hands before meals was often a collective procedure. In wealthy households, guests were served water for hand washing in one trough, which was not changed between guests, which was more of a formality than real cleansing.

In Russia and Slavic lands, the tradition of washing hands before meals was established culturally. There were even special wash basins hanging almost in every house, and people bathed in the bathhouses much more often than in Europe, which foreign travelers noted.

The Scientific Revolution: Semmelweis and Discovery

A key moment in the history of hand washing occurred in 1847. The Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis, working in a Vienna hospital, found that the mortality from “childbed fever” in the department where doctors worked was much higher than in the department where midwives worked.

He associated this with the fact that doctors often came to the delivery ward after autopsy, not washing their hands. Semmelweis proposed treating hands with a solution of lime chloride, and the mortality in his department dropped by 90% in one year.

Unfortunately, the medical community of that time did not accept Semmelweis's discovery, as the theory of microorganisms was not yet known. The idea that diseases are caused by microorganisms was later proved by Louis Pasteur, and the practical benefits of hand washing for surgery were persuasively demonstrated by the English surgeon Joseph Lister in the 1860s.

The 20th Century: Hygiene Becomes Normal

Hand washing became widely practiced already in the 20th century. In the Soviet Union, hygiene was elevated to a cult — children were taught to wash their hands before meals and after using the toilet, and there were relevant posters in dining halls. In other countries, hygiene norms also gradually became widely accepted.

Conclusion

Thus, people have been washing their hands before meals since ancient times, but for them, this was more of a ritual or an expression of personal neatness. As a scientifically substantiated medical practice to prevent the spread of infections, hand washing only began to be applied in the mid-19th century, thanks to the discovery of Ignaz Semmelweis. Washing hands before meals became an obligatory habit for most people only in the 20th century.

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