Put your best foot forward and take off your shoes
Protocol dictates that shoes are removed before entering a mosque. The same goes for many temples and the traditional explanation is that this keeps floors and carpets inside clean for those who are there to pray. This especially applies when kneeling or sitting on the floor is part of the religious procedures. However, there is another more important reason.
Entering such a building is a humbling experience and that humility and deference is expressed visibly by taking off footwear. This applies to all worshippers irrespective of age, sex, wealth or position. Some places go even further and provide washing facilities so that a congregation can go through a small ritual before entering, expressing a solidarity and communality with other worshippers and a respect for the religion itself.
In many cultures, the same applies in visits to peoples’ homes. In Japan, it is disrespectful not to take off your shoes when entering someone’s home. Traditional domestic design usually incorporates an area called “Genkan” which is located inside the front door before the main body of the house. It is usually at a slightly lower level and is invariably filled with slippers for use by guests but even these should be removed before entering rooms. It is also quite common today for visitors to bring their own clean socks to wear whilst in someone else’s home.
In China, it is again common practice for indoor shoes to be provided for visitors and household members alike and in northern Europe and Canada it is normal to see shoes and boots removed, especially in winter. In Turkey, rather ornate slippers are sometimes lined up, ready for use but it is not uncommon nowadays for people to bring their own shoes to change into. Over here, some schools still insist on children wearing “indoor” shoes but this never applies to their teachers.
These examples demonstrate a formalised arrival routine which shows respect by the visitor for their host’s home but also gratitude by the home owner. It makes the arrival that bit more special, rather like having your coat taken and hung up. It also helps to leave homes cleaner by keeping out dirt and mud and all the other grime that is found outside today. This is even more important during these days of Covid-19 as it has been shown that the virus can survive on different surfaces for varying lengths of time and some hospital staff have already taken to removing their shoes before entering their own homes. Perhaps this will become a new tradition following the end of this pandemic.
But taking off shoes is not the only way that visits to someone’s home is made that bit more special. In many cultures a visit is accompanied by the bringing of a small gift. In Britain this is commonly chocolate or wine but elsewhere it could be food or something to ward off evil. Here, you see that superstition is at play and there are many superstitions about shoes. Putting on the left shoe first but is said to cause an argument or bring about misfortune. Putting on the right shoe first is considered very lucky. To some, this even extends to which foot steps out of bed first: all explained by the “left associated with the devil” tradition. Ask around and find out what other little rituals accompany footwear: you may find surprises but as the old joke goes, whichever shoe is put on first, the other is always left.