Esquisse Posted December 25, 2011 #1 Share Posted December 25, 2011 I'd like to know your opinion on this superstition: Never wear anything new to a funeral, especially the shoes. Why is that? I tried to google and looke in some book on superstitions, but didn't find any answer. Does anyone know anything about that? I wore my new dress to my grandma's funeral and few weeks after I stumbled upon this superstition, so it puzzles me now. Am I doomed? Should I await hordes of ghosts hunting me now? Am I to make a children sacrifice to save myself? Eh, just joking. I just hate it when I find some kind of restriction I don't know anything closer about, like what happens when I disobey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greywolf Posted December 26, 2011 #2 Share Posted December 26, 2011 (edited) I have never heard of this.it's probably a local superstition. Edited December 26, 2011 by greywolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhantomFlanFlinger Posted December 26, 2011 #3 Share Posted December 26, 2011 There was an old superstition where you would leave old shoes in a house to fend off evil spirits...how that worked i dont know.Also some superstitious people only wear old shoes on Friday the 13th to make sure they get good luck.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tia Posted December 26, 2011 #4 Share Posted December 26, 2011 I've never heard of it before either. Maybe it was born, that to wear something new was like a celebration as we normally buy new clothes for such things which would be kind of disrespectful. But then for some, after a long final stage death is a celebration to them and their families to know the pain has finally ended. Just found this under Victorian Customs but no reason either...Never wear anything new to a funeral, especially shoes. A few I could find...Many people no new shoes should be worn at a funeral as this brings bad luck to the wearer. Link..http://feetshoesandsuperstition.blogspot.com/2008/10/dead-mens-shoes.html 3) Wearing new shoes or clothes to a funeral will bring misfortune. Link....http://www.costumesupercenter.com/csc_inc/html/static/btarticles/halloweensuperstitionsandmore.html Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esquisse Posted December 26, 2011 Author #5 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Thank you very much for all your responses. Maybe it was born, that to wear something new was like a celebration as we normally buy new clothes for such things which would be kind of disrespectful. But then for some, after a long final stage death is a celebration to them and their families to know the pain has finally ended. Tia, thank you very much for this thoughts, it seems logical. Maybe it's the problem of internet that someone once posted local superstition somewhere and when people started to copy it on their sites, it spreaded far and wide. I must admit that my curiosity grows, I would really love to know the original background behind most of superstitions. When something brings misfortune, why is that? Does it make spirits angry? Could they envy you those new things? Iknow, I just digg into that too deep, but that's me:D Always curious about things I should take as they are:D Thank you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetallicBlood Posted December 26, 2011 #6 Share Posted December 26, 2011 I've never heard of this, but I pretty much always had to buy something new to wear to every funeral I've been to since I never seem to have anything formal to wear when I need it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nyuk Posted December 26, 2011 #7 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Nope, sorry, but never heard of this. I know when i was a kid, if there was a funeral everyone used to shut the cutains in th house. I asked my mum why we did that, she said it was a mark of respect and stopped any spirit entering the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schizoidwoman Posted December 27, 2011 #8 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I had never heard this but mourning customs (specifically Georgian and Victorian) are a bit of a hobby of mine so it's very interesting to learn a new one. I did a bit of Googling and found a single reference in the text of Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, published in 1887. Sadly there is no other information beyond "Never wear new clothes at a funeral." so if nothing else, the tradition was observed in Inverness as early as 1887. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schizoidwoman Posted December 27, 2011 #9 Share Posted December 27, 2011 There was an old superstition where you would leave old shoes in a house to fend off evil spirits...how that worked i dont know. The Georgians (my period of interest) were very big on this, they were called "concealment shoes" and would often be placed on a narrow shelf inside the chimney or, in some cases, you can find a small opening in the skirting boards beside the fireplace and the residents could "post" shoes through it, where they would fall down into the cellar. The idea was that the spirits would enter via the chimney and either stop at the shoes on the shelf or, if they were posted to the cellar, would follow them and end up stuck down in the cellar where they could do no harm to the family! Shoes were also placed under the floorboards beside external doors or were secreted around windows, doors, chimneys or any other opening to the building during construction with the aim of preventing spirits from entering the home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhantomFlanFlinger Posted December 27, 2011 #10 Share Posted December 27, 2011 The Georgians (my period of interest) were very big on this, they were called "concealment shoes" and would often be placed on a narrow shelf inside the chimney or, in some cases, you can find a small opening in the skirting boards beside the fireplace and the residents could "post" shoes through it, where they would fall down into the cellar. The idea was that the spirits would enter via the chimney and either stop at the shoes on the shelf or, if they were posted to the cellar, would follow them and end up stuck down in the cellar where they could do no harm to the family! Shoes were also placed under the floorboards beside external doors or were secreted around windows, doors, chimneys or any other opening to the building during construction with the aim of preventing spirits from entering the home. Thank you for that...id seen it on the tv so i didnt know the origins behind it...very interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esquisse Posted December 27, 2011 Author #11 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Wow, really interesting informations, schizoidwoman and BrianPotter, thank you! I'm very glad to learn something new! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashore Posted December 27, 2011 #12 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I think the new clothes/shoes thing is sort of an, um, ill luck quenching of sorts as another explination. Like what you do for the first time in your new clothes/shoes will be a reflection of what you will continue doing when you wear them again. So if the first time you wear something it's to a funeral, you get some "dead mojo" on it, and after that wearing it it's likely to bring ill luck or take you to another funeral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esquisse Posted December 29, 2011 Author #13 Share Posted December 29, 2011 I think the new clothes/shoes thing is sort of an, um, ill luck quenching of sorts as another explination. Like what you do for the first time in your new clothes/shoes will be a reflection of what you will continue doing when you wear them again. So if the first time you wear something it's to a funeral, you get some "dead mojo" on it, and after that wearing it it's likely to bring ill luck or take you to another funeral. This is pretty interesting explanation, I can't believe I didn't think of it. I'm a little superstitious and have some "unlucky" clothes at home Your explanation makes a perfect sense to me! Etiher it's just coincidence or it has a grain of truth in it, but everytime I take one particular t-shirt on date or exam, it ends disasterously Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nyuk Posted December 29, 2011 #14 Share Posted December 29, 2011 This is pretty interesting explanation, I can't believe I didn't think of it. I'm a little superstitious and have some "unlucky" clothes at home Your explanation makes a perfect sense to me! Etiher it's just coincidence or it has a grain of truth in it, but everytime I take one particular t-shirt on date or exam, it ends disasterously Think you should get rid of that particular t shirt :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anon E. Mouse Posted December 30, 2011 #15 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I don't even get the whole pulling over for a funeral procession thing. I think it's just a safe bet to say that everything dealing with a funeral is bad luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashore Posted December 30, 2011 #16 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I don't even get the whole pulling over for a funeral procession thing. I think it's just a safe bet to say that everything dealing with a funeral is bad luck. The pulling over thing is more of a respect than luck thing. Being respectful of the dead and for the grief of those in the procession and so pull over to allow the procession to proceed. There is the notion of meeting a procession head on can bring ill luck, and either turning around or holding a button could negate the ill luck. Sensible reasoning behind this? Way back when most regular travel went by the same speed, walking or animal driven. A lot of roads leading out the the local graveyard were narrow enough to allow either the procession or the traveler to pass fully on the road while requiring the other party to move off the road to some extent. Sometimes simply pulling over was the better option against proceeding while not fully on the road. Or back up/turn around might be the better option. Now a days we have a lot faster travel speed, and other traffic controlling options, so procession ill luck is more likely to come from travelers trying to get around/through the procession, and getting into accidents or other traffic violations. The button thing? I think it likely that again, way back.. It was proper form to bow ones head in respect or prayer as a funeral passed. The action of looking down to grasp a button may just be a civilized, if superstitious, way of encouraging that bowed head stance. The spooky reasoning behind this? Be nice and respectful to the dead, or the dead will eff with you. Back to more reasoning behind new clothes.. Way back, more people had less clothing. Like working clothes and one set, maybe two of nice clothes. You wore your nice stuff for special celebrations and observations. Better to break those clothes in wearing them for a good thing rather than a sad thing. There are situations in superstition where you are supposed to wear new clothes for the first time because it is thought to bring good luck Quenching the garb and getting "happy mojo" on it. So, now you got a nice new piece of garb that not only has no dead mojo on it, it also has a bad mojo protection built into it since you quenched it in happy mojo. That piece of clothing will hopefully lead you into more happy situations than ill ones. Superstition is a super crazy thing, people come up with all sorts of stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esquisse Posted January 6, 2012 Author #17 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Think you should get rid of that particular t shirt :yes: I did, since some parts of mine grew a little bigger now and that t-shirt is a little small Since then, no bad things happening on dates, yay! Well, no dates at all since then. Not so yay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nyuk Posted January 6, 2012 #18 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I did, since some parts of mine grew a little bigger now and that t-shirt is a little small Since then, no bad things happening on dates, yay! Well, no dates at all since then. Not so yay. At least the t shirt gone ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastymancer Posted January 12, 2012 #19 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Never wear anything new to a funeral, especially the shoes I asked the question when my Mum (I am 38 and married) didn't let me wear new shoes to my Gran's funeral and made me wear a pair of my Dad's. It was a victorian tradition where we grew up in Yorkshire that you would lavish as much money as you could on someone's funeral so that it showed respect and the fact that they weren't a pauper. To wear new shoes/clothes was an indication that you hadn't spent as much as you could on the funeral and spent some on yourself. It was all about the politics of being poor when you lived in terraced rows and had continued through to present. The funeral tradition I am interested in is after a wake with a male deceased smoker, the wake party tip the full (usually overflowing) ashtrays into the coffin before it is shut. Its something I experienced a couple of times about 20 years ago but has died out along with wakes. Has any one else heard/experienced it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanDreams Posted January 17, 2012 #20 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Superstitions abound. I heard one similar; don't wear anything made of leather to a funeral. I don't know why. Maybe someone else does? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schizoidwoman Posted January 18, 2012 #21 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I heard this on radio 4 with regard to some Jewish funerals but it didn’t explain why. I did find this online though: Why do we refrain from wearing leather shoes? Leather shoes are not worn because they are considered a luxury and a sign of satisfaction with our status and the quality of our lives, a feeling antithetical to mourning. In addition, since the wearing of leather shoes is associated with going out of the house, there is no need to wear them during Shivah. [The Seven day period of formalised mourning] http://www.jewishfunerals.com/html/mourning.html#Anchor-SHIVAH-14210 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ookami-Rose Posted January 18, 2012 #22 Share Posted January 18, 2012 There was an old superstition where you would leave old shoes in a house to fend off evil spirits...how that worked i dont know.Also some superstitious people only wear old shoes on Friday the 13th to make sure they get good luck.. I wore old shoes (only closed shoes i currently own) on friday the 13th of this month, does that mean i get good luck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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