Orthopaedic Footwear - History - Culture and Folklore

Culture and Folklore

As an integral part of human culture and civilization, shoes have found their way into our culture, folklore, and art. A popular 18th century nursery rhyme is There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. This story tells about an old woman living in a shoe with a lot of children. In 1948, Mahlon Haines, a shoe salesman in Hallam, Pennsylvania, built an actual house shaped like a work boot as a form of advertisement. The Haines Shoe House was rented to newlyweds and the elderly until his death in 1962. Since then, it has served as an ice cream parlor, a bed and breakfast, and a museum. It still stands today and is a popular roadside attraction.

Shoes also play an important role in the fairy tales Cinderella and The Red Shoes. In the children's book and movie, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a pair of red ruby slippers play a key role in the plot. The 1985 comedy The Man with One Red Shoe features an eccentric man wearing one normal business shoe and one red shoe that becomes central to the plot.

Athletic sneaker collection has also existed as a part of urban subculture in the United States for several decades. Recent decades have seen this trend spread to European nations such as the Czech Republic. A Sneakerhead is a person who owns multiple pairs of shoes as a form of collection and fashion. A contributor to the growth of sneaker collecting is the continued worldwide popularity of the Air Jordan line of sneakers designed by Nike for Basketball star Michael Jordan.

In the Holy Bible's Old Testament, the shoe is used to symbolize something that is worthless or of little value. In the New Testament, the act of removing one's shoes symbolizes servitude. The Semites regarded the act of removing their shoes as a mark of reverence when approaching a sacred person or place. In the Book of Exodus, Moses was instructed to remove his shoes before approaching the burning bush:

Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest holy ground (Exodus 3:5).

The removal of the shoe also symbolizes the act of giving up a legal right. In Hebrew custom, the widow removed the shoe of her late husband's brother to symbolize that he had abandoned his duty. In arab custom, the removal of one's shoe also symbolized the dissolution of marriage.

In Arab culture, showing the sole of your shoe is considered an insult, and to throw your shoe and hit someone with it, is considered an even greater insult. This is because the shoe is considered dirty because it touches the ground and is associated with the lowest part of the body — the foot. As such, shoes are forbidden in mosques, and it is also considered rude to cross your legs and display your soles to someone when talking to them. This insult was demonstrated in Iraq, first when Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled in 2003, Iraqis gathered around it and struck the statue with their shoes. Secondly, in 2008, United States President George W. Bush had a shoe thrown at him by a journalism as a statement against the war that was brought to Iraq and the lives that it has cost.

Empty shoes may also symbolize death. In Greek culture, empty shoes are the equivalent of the American funeral wreath. For example, empty shoes placed outside of a Greek home would tell others that the family's son has died in battle. At an observation memorializing the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, 3,000 pairs of empty shoes were used to recognize those killed.