A pair of shoes will be old after wearing for a long time, and you can't even wear them on your feet, so the old shoes are useless, how to deal with them?In the past, there was a popular saying that "don't throw away old shoes, it's not good to throw them away", and this saying is to tell people how to deal with it.
Any popular saying that circulates among the people has its historical background, and this saying should come from the era when there were no modern shoe-making processes such as rubber shoes and leather shoes. The author grew up at the end of that era. At that time, rubber shoes were still a scarce item in the countryside, not to mention leather shoes and all kinds of new shoes now.
I remember that at that time, my parents bought me a pair of rubber shoes, which made me excited for several days, and I wore them on my feet to show off in the alleys of the village. At that time, people wore cloth shoes on their feet, and they wore single cloth shoes in spring and autumn, and cotton shoes in winter. He went into the mountains to cut firewood, went to the fields to do farm work, and was reluctant to wear cloth shoes, for fear of being scratched by thorns, so he wore straw sandals.
On rainy days in spring and autumn, when you go out, you are afraid that your cloth shoes will get wet, so you simply go barefoot. When you go out in the rain on a cold day, you are afraid that your cloth shoes will get wet, so you put on clogs. Straw sandals and cloth shoes are two types of shoes that were common in the countryside in the old days.
When wearing straw sandals, if they are rotten, they really can't be worn, and they are thrown in**, and there are no special taboos. Because straw sandals are made of straw or thatch from the mountains, they will rot and turn into dirt soon after they are thrown away, unlike today's rubber shoes, which will not rot for years when thrown into the wild.
Therefore,"Don't throw away old shoes" actually refers to cloth shoes. At that time, the old cloth shoes could no longer be worn, and they could not be thrown away casually, mainly because they were reluctant to throw them away.
The old cloth shoes of that era could no longer be worn or thrown away, but were washed and collected, and when the women made shoes, the fabric of the shoes was removed and used to make the soles.
In that era of scarcity of materials, cloth was very precious and could not be bought, and many people still weaved cloth by themselves, a very coarse cloth, commonly known as home machine cloth. The soles of cloth shoes need to consume a lot of cloth, and can only be made with old cloth and cloth strips. In fact, there were not enough old cloths and rags at that time, and in order to save the fabric, it was usually necessary to stuff in a few bamboo shoot shells and brown flakes to increase the thickness and firmness of the sole.
Therefore,This is one of the reasons why the saying says that throwing shoes at home is not smooth, although this statement is a bit exaggerated, however, this is to warn people that they should pay attention to saving at ordinary times, so that they can live a good and smooth life. The shoes are old, but they can still be put to good use.
As the saying goes, the second reason for throwing shoes at home is not good, of course, there are some folk taboos and customs.
There are also sayings in the folk saying "shoes are not thrown away" and "shoes are thrown away". China has a vast territory, and different places have different local taboos and customs because of differences in dialects, culture, customs, life and other aspects. Here are some of the local taboo customs regarding shoe throwing.
1. The taboo custom of throwing shoes comes from the local dialect. For example, in many places such as Hunan and Jiangxi, in the local dialect, the pronunciation of "shoes" and "child" is exactly the same, both of which are pronounced hái zi, so the accent of "throwing shoes" is the same as the accent of "throwing children".
Imagine who would want to throw their children away?In the old days, only when the family was extremely poor and helpless, and only when there was no way to sell their wives and children, this kind of family must have been very unhappy and unfortunate. Therefore, no matter what kind of shoes are thrown away, it is considered a very unlucky move by people.
2. The taboo custom of throwing shoes comes from funeral customs. For example, in many rural customs in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou and other places, shoes cannot be thrown into the fire and burned. Because of these local customs, after the old man is angry, he will burn his shoes when he burns the bed and grass for the old man.
In the past, it was customary to lay a thick layer of straw under the hemp quilt, and after the death of a person, the straw on the bed would be taken outside and burned. While burning the bed and making grass, it is necessary to burn a set of clothes and a pair of shoes. Clothes and shoes must have been worn by the deceased during his lifetime, and most families are reluctant to burn them, only old clothes and shoes.
When the coffin containing the deceased is carried out of the house, that is, when the funeral begins, some of the deceased's clothes, shoes, and daily necessities are burned and the deceased is sent on the road. The burned old clothes, shoes, and old items worn by the deceased during their lifetime.
Therefore, people usually very taboo to throw old clothes and shoes into the fire and burn them at will.
In addition, shoes should not be thrown near water, such as wells, ponds, or rivers. Legend has it that when people throw themselves into the water, they use to take off their shoes and put them near the water, and then they throw themselves into the water. This has also become a taboo when people throw shoes.
3. The taboo custom of throwing shoes comes from protecting one's own safety. In the people, they can't just throw their old shoes outside, mainly because they are afraid that some people with bad intentions will pick up other people's old shoes and do some things like stealing chickens and dogs, and then leave other people's shoe prints at the scene of the crime and blame others.
In the past, the technical means of solving the case were limited, and solving the case according to the traces of the scene became one of the main means at that time. If someone uses the old shoes thrown outside to commit crimes, or deliberately uses other people's old shoes to leave footprints, then the person who threw the old shoes will be at a loss for words, and will inevitably be involved in the whirlpool of lawsuits, making the whole family worried and uneasy.
Therefore, in the past, in order to protect their own safety, people could not casually throw away even shoes that were not too old to be worn anymore, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.
4. The taboo custom of throwing shoes comes from respect for others. In the past, it was forbidden to fan people with the soles of their shoes in many places, especially not to fan people with the soles of old shoes. Folk superstition says that people who are fanned by the soles of their shoes will have very bad luck from now on.
In fact, slapping people with the soles of their shoes, although it does not hurt people, is a great humiliating behavior for people, and it hurts people's hearts a lot.
Therefore, old shoes cannot be thrown away casually, once thrown on someone else's body, it will cause conflicts and disputes.
5. The taboo custom of throwing shoes comes from respect for ancestors. There are some folk customs, there are two important places in the house, not to litter shoes, new shoes and old shoes are the same.
First, it should not be thrown into the hall (hall), especially not in the corners on both sides of the shrine, which is said to be the place of wealth in the family, which will ruin the family. In fact, this is disrespectful to the ancestors of the family.
The second is that it cannot be thrown or placed on the threshold of the main house. Legend has it that the threshold of the house is the place where the ancestors rested when they returned home, and it was taboo to step on the threshold with their feet, and it was also taboo to put their shoes on the threshold. If you do this, you will be disrespecting your ancestors.
Another way of saying it is that the threshold represents the owner of the house, and if you step on the threshold of the main house with your feet, or put your shoes on the threshold of the main house, you are a bully.
The above statements are mainly based on the social background of the saying "don't throw away old shoes, littering the house", and some local taboo customs have been formed.
Now that society has developed and life is getting better, shoes made of various materials have a wide variety of varieties and dazzling, some are expensive, some are cheap and affordable, and they are no longer like in the past, dismantling old shoes to make new shoes, and many taboo customs about throwing old shoes have slowly disappeared.
Especially today's young people, with new ideas and open minds, no longer pay attention to the traditional and outdated customs of the people, so people now have a lot of free space to throw away old shoes.
However, the current old shoes, as a kind of household garbage, can neither be littered at home, make the home messy, nor can they be littered outside, affecting people's travel and destroying the cleanliness of the environment. We still have to put it in the designated garbage can according to the relevant regulations of the village or community, and the clean, tidy and comfortable living environment depends on everyone to create and maintain.
At the same time, when we go out, we should also pay attention to the local customs, if there are some places that still pay attention to these taboo customs of throwing old shoes, we should also respect the local customs, so as not to bring unnecessary trouble to ourselves.