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When Boys Wore Dresses, and Other Fascinating Traditions and Conventions From History

Khalid Elhassan May 16, 2024 29 min

Tradition - A young King Louis XIV, in male clothes after he was breeched, and his young brother, the Duc d Orleans, in a dress before he was breeched — A young King Louis XIV, in male clothes after he was breeched, and his young brother, the Duc d Orleans, in a dress before he was breeched. Pinterest

The Parts of the World Where Shoes are Traditionally Seen as Good Luck

Tradition - Queen Victoria throws a shoe at British soldiers for good luck — Punch Magazine depiction of Queen Victoria throwing a shoe at British soldiers headed to fight the Crimean War. Imgur

In contrast to the Middle Eastern cultural perspective that throwing a shoe at somebody is a deadly insult, there is a belief in other parts of the world that throwing a shoe at somebody brings good fortune. In medieval Europe, it was believed that shoes were good luck. Text that dates back centuries refers to shoes being thrown at newly married couples to wish them good fortune in their new life together. The belief that throwing shoes at somebody brought good luck lasted into the modern era.

In 1854, for example, Queen Victoria threw her shoes at British soldiers as they headed out for the Crimean War, to wish them well. She also wrote in her diary that shoes were thrown into the doorway of Balmoral Castle when it was completed in 1855, for good luck. It was part of another long-held belief, that shoes brought good fortune to homes. For centuries, well-worn shoes were placed inside the walls or in the rafters of homes that underwent renovations, in the belief that it warded off evil spirits and witchcraft.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.