There was a text I distinctly remember where a Muslim man was somewhere in Scandinavia and documented his experiences living with them. One part of the reading referred to a particularly disgusting tradition where a woman would go from household to household with a pot of water. She would offer the pot of water to person at the house, and they would take the water in it, wash their face in it, and blow their nose into the pot. The same pot was then taken to the next household with all the snotty goodness still in there.

Pretty nasty, but was this a real thing, or simply an embellishment by a visitor to comment about how much more civilized he believed his people to be? The only thing holding me back from this is that I've been reading about how medieval people were more hygienic than we traditionally think of them, and this is just so insanely disgusting that I have a hard time believing anyone at any time period could think this was a good idea.

So, did this sort of thing ever happen anywhere in northern Europe? Communal nose-blowing pots?