When Cinderella lost a shoe, the psychologists said: Ah, you know what that means! Because Freud claimed that the shoe is a symbol for female genitals (the foot that penetrates the shoe kind of thing). That’s why, when a couple marries, shoes are tied to their car representing the sexual union.
The shoe covers the foot and the foot is what we use to make contact with the earth. So shoes can also represent our standpoint and approach towards life. Maybe that’s why there are many shoe related sayings such as: Never criticize a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins + If the shoe fits, wear it + comfortable as an old shoe + the shoe is on the other foot.
And, because of this symbolism, shoes have often been concealed in walls.
just another shoe in the wall….Keeping evil at bay: Concealed garments
“concealment shoe” at Hammond-Harwood House
During the restoration of old houses, often shoes hidden in the walls have been found. The practice of concealing shoes was once common in Britain–people believed that hiding a shoe, especially that of a child or a woman, would help ward off evil spirits.
Why would shoes be deliberately built into a home or public building? Some have speculated that the tradition stems from the prehistoric custom of killing a person and placing the body in the foundation to insure that the building holds together. Later shoes were used as a substitute for a human sacrifice. Shoes may have been chosen, because over time they take on and keep the shape of the wearer’s foot. Shoes were hidden near openings in the home–doors, windows, chimneys–the perceived weak places in the building that were thus protected from evil by the shoe owner’s spirit.
Finding Concealed Objects In Den + Smith said shoes have always had a lot of significance. They were prevalent in children’s nursery rhymes and classic storylines such as “The Wizard of Oz” and “Cinderella.”
Concealed shoes: Australian settlers and an old superstition + Mystery of the shoe in the wall + Medieval Mondays: A shoe hidden away keeps the witches at bay + 300-year-old shoes found in castle wall during restoration + Ancient shoe-filled jar found in Luxor temple
