Pinterest Pixel
View Other Topics.

Shoe Superstitions and Folklore.

May 23, 2016

In this fun article by I. Marc Carlson, we find there is an increasingly common modern assumption that shoe concealments are intended for a superstitious reason or ritual, so we should look at a wide variety of actual superstitious and ritual practices regarding shoes. My personal position is that we don't know why these items were concealed in walls way back when, and it's sloppy to assume that they all were for ritual reasons (which is where this trend is currently heading). Some may well have been, others likely were not. Since the idea was first proposed by June Swann back in the 60s, the idea that they were ritual deposits has certainly influenced the reasons why people are currently depositing shoes, as well as the assumptions about the past.
 
You'll notice that some of these listed are contradictory, this is because different people had different backgrounds and traditions, and therefore different beliefs.
 
In the Highlands, a form of divination was practiced on Halloween whereby you take a shoe by the tip and throw it over your house. The direction it points when it lands on the ground is the direction you are destined to travel. If it lands sole up, that is very unlucky for you. (Rev. J.G. Campbell, cited in Frazer, Sir James G. The Golden Bough, 3d ed. v.10)
 
Shoe on a charm bracelet is for "fortuity" (Telesco, Patricia. Magick of Folk Wisdom)
 
It is said to be traditional in England to throw a shoe at someone when they are setting out on a journey, to wish them luck. The shoe should be thrown in the direction of the journey (Telesco, Patricia. Magick of Folk Wisdom)
 
When a person leaves home on a journey, throw an old shoe after him so that he will have good luck. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
"And home again hitherwards quicke as a bee, now for good luck, cast an old shoe after me" (John Heywood, 1598, in Merrifield, 1988)
 
"Hurl after me a shoe, I'll be merry whatever I'll do," (Ben Johnson, http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/osc/osc38.htm)
  
"For this thou shalt from all things seek, Marrow of mirth and laughter, And wheresoe'er thou move, good luck, Shall throw her old shoe after." (Tennyson,http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/osc/osc38.htm) Will Waterproof's Lyrical Monologue, in English Idyls and Other Poems by Tennyson - 1842
 
Drop an old shoe outside by the front door as you leave the house on a journey and then you will not have any bad luck on the trip. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
In England, old shoes are tied to a bridal carriage to bring luck. In Transylvania it's to increase fertility (Hartland, Legend of Perseus)
 
Throwing the old shoe was not always confined to weddings, though the custom nowadays has come to be associated entirely with the going away of bridal couples (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/osc/osc38.htm)
 
Shoes behind the car at a wedding are for luck (Source unknown)
 
Shoes are tied to a bridal couple's car, and the bridesmaid who obtained the old shoe will be the next to marry (R.B. Rice, citing J. H . Thornton, Sussex Life, Dec 1970, in Merrifield, 1988)
 
In the Highlands, a bridegroom's left shoe should be without buckle or latchet "to prevent witches from depriving him, on the nuptual night, of the power of loosening the virgin zone". (Pennant, "Tour of Scotland" Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels iii, 91, cited in Frazer, Sir James G. The Golden Bough, 3d ed. v.3)
 
In the Isle of Skye, "the bridegrooms put all the powers of magic to defense, for he was married with both shoes tied with their latchet." (Pennant, "Second Tour of Scotland" Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels iii, 365, cited in Frazer, Sir James G.  The Golden Bough, 3d ed. v.3)
 
In Scotland the shoe tie of the grooms right foot is unloosed at the church door (Rogers, Ch., Social Life in Scotland, cited in Frazer, Sir James G.  The Golden Bough, 3d ed. v.3)
 
"In Anglo-Saxon marriages the bride's father delivered her shoe to the bridegroom, who touched her on the head with it in token of his authority." (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/osc/osc38.htm)
 
In Lancashire, if you want to conceive a child, try on the shoes of a woman who has just given birth  (R.B. Rice, citing J. H . Thornton, Sussex Life, Dec 1970, in Merrifield, 1988)
 
Undertakers refuse to bury people with their shoes on.  (Source unknown)
 
Cambridgeshire lightermen consider shoes taken from a dead man's feet to be especially lucky (Porter, 1969, in Merrifield, 1988)
 
An old shoe is a lucky object (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
Old shoes should be worn on Friday the 13th for good luck. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
Nothing new should be worn to a funeral, especially shoes (Hole, C. Encyclopaedia of Superstitions)
 
A dog howling at night when someone in the house is sick is a bad omen. It can be reversed by reaching under the bed and turning over a shoe (Hole, C. Encyclopaedia of Superstitions)
  
If you leave shoes lying on their uppers, you will quarrel with someone during the course of the day (Bengal)
 
By wearing holes in the soles of your shoes you will become wealthy (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
  
"If you wear your shoes out on the toe/You will spend money as you go" (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
  
If a woman walks without shoes during the six weeks following childbirth, then her child will take a dangerous fall when it is learning to walk (Grimm, J. Deutsche Mythologie 1835)
 
In Hessen, a woman will steal her beloved's shoes, and wear them for eight days to make him love her (Ploss, H. Das Weib in der Natur und Volkerkuende, 1895)
  
Never wear your shoes in the house, because it brings the devil in your house (Hawai'ian)
 
If you want to win at cards, you must put on the shoes you are gong to play in before you eat. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
Never put on the shoes you are going to wear to a party after you eat or you will lose every time  (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
Look for bad luck, if you do not place your stockings inside your shoes at night. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
Putting your stockings in your shoes before going to bed will cause you bad luck. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
It causes misfortune to place your shoes higher than your head. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
New shoes that have never been worn should be put high above the floor for luck. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
To place old shoes high off the floor is unlucky. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
Set your removed shoes higher than your knees and you will be sick. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
Tying your shoes together and hanging them on a nail will give you bad luck. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
To hook first the top buttons of your shoes will bring you bad luck. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
If you repeat "Hoping this night, my true love to see, I place my shoe in the form of a T" (place your shoes heel against instep and do no speak again that night.   You will marry the man you see in your dreams (Emrich, D. The Folklore of Love and Courtship, 1970).
 
Repeat at bedtime "Point your shoes toward the street, tie your garters around your feet, put your stockings under your head, and you'll dream of the one you're going to wed." (Emrich, D. The Folklore of Love and Courtship, 1970).
 
On your birthday, when you go to bed at night, take off your shoe or slipper.   Stand with your back to the door and throw the shoe over your head,  You must not look at it before morning. If the toe points to the door, you will be a bride before the end of the year  (Emrich, D. The Folklore of Love and Courtship, 1970).
 
To put on two shoes that are not mates is the sign of good luck. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 
If you pull on odd shoes and change them, you will meet with an accident. (Superstitions: 10,000 You Really Need)
 

Image:  Shoes - clipartpanda.com



Share this article with friends!




Tags:
#superstitions,#shoe#superstitions,#folklore,#highlands,#starzpsychics.com,#starz#advisors,#clipartpanda.com


STAY CONNECTED With STARZ SOCIALS: