Sorry, we don't allow throughout history questions. These tend to produce threads which are collections of trivia, not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about particular region/culture and time period, please feel free to re-compose your question and submit it again. Alternatively, questions of this type can be directed to more appropriate subreddits, such as /r/history or /r/askhistory.
Alternatively, a search for the 'winter peasant' will turn up several previous threads
edit: hey, ran into this while searching for something else: