Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1909-04-16
THROWING OF OLD SHOE
OR SLIPPER TIME HONORED
HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE AND ITS
PROBABLE ORIGIN INTERESTING
LY TOLD IN RECENT ISSUE OF
THE CHICAGO JOURNAL,

LY TOLD IN RECENT ISSUE OF
THE CHICAGO JOURNAL.
When any one embarks on a new un
dertaking, such as departing to take uI
new post or going on the anxious
journey Of application for a'place of any
kind, it is common and pleasant
custom for relatives and friends te
throw an old shoe or slipper after the
traveller for luck, says the Chicago
Journal. 1t must not be a new one
nor must the slipper be unwoln, or the
token of good fortune is nil.
Though common, this custom is moi
observed so much for ordinary occasion,
Of life as it is for weddings At nearly
every wedding, when the newly mar
ried couple start on the honeymoon,
some relative or friend stands ready to
throw the old slipper or shoe after the
carriage.
Only those who have had all the
claim ON the bride hitherto should
throw the slipper if its right luck to
ken is to be observed. The nearest
friend of the bride, her father, OF the
one who gave her away, should be the
shoe thrower. And the shoe is thrown
not at or after the bride, but directly at
the bridegroom. 1t is for him in real
ity, and is, in effect, q token of the
transference of his wife from her friends
to his care.
just as the wedding ring is the sur
vival of badge Of servitude, the own
er's mark for his slave, so is the old
shoe survival of an old usage that has
come down to US from ancient customs
of Eastern lands. When possession Of
land or of anything else was yielded up
by an owner toga buyer the transference
OF the former owners shoe to the new
owner was mark of the exchange.
When the possession given up was Of
old standing this was implied by the
giving over of shoe that had been
worn; hence the reason for old shoes,
not new ones, thrown after bridal car
riage.
In Eastern lands if man wished to
given token that he claimed land and
meant to occupy it heithrew his shoe
upon it. Not a new shoe, but one TAX
en- from his foot. This was the symbol
of ownership. If the first owner meant
to dispute possession he cast the shoe
back
The latter reason is why it is unlucky
for either the bride or bridegroom to
pick up the shoe if it should fall near
them and throw it back. Always has
it been considered token of bad luck
to do this, yet sometimes in ignorance
of this it has been done, of course, play
fully.
By this custom the bridegroom is
really refusing to take up his new pos
session. The shoe means occupancy,
and he should keep it.
If in that old Eastern time man de-
hvered over his shoe as sign that he
refused to take it then he..was rejecting
the land or other purchase tacitly. The
matter was perfectly understood, and
the shoe stood instead of lawsuits.
To this day Eastern people take off
their shoes as mark of reverence and
as token that they dare not take
thrower of the old shoe ought to stand
barefoot to keep the luck emblem in
tact, and the shoe should certainly be
one of his own.
The bride begins a new life. She
should enter her husbands house in
new shoes, therefore. Invariably she
does SO, not always knowing any rea-
son underlying this, save that she has
everything new for her wedding. But
she would be unlucky on this day il
she were married in old shoes.