Why are shoes hanging on wires? Where do sneakers and sneakers on electric wires come from. Why hang sneakers on wires in different countries of the world
Ask Stupid Questions, Get Smart Answers Issue 35
Head up! In some areas of Chisinau, trees are covered not only with swollen buds and the first starlings, but also with old shoes. In some places, worn-out "boots" are overgrown with cables stretched between poles. Let's try to figure out where the shoelaces grow from this urban phenomenon.
As if there were not enough strange customs in our wonderful country to adopt even stranger ones from other countries! Unprepared and weak-willed foreigners who happen to get to a wedding or a kumetriya are shocked by the number of godfathers and mothers. Then Masa mare awaits them, which is also a solemn collection of money from guests at the wedding, who, it seems, were invited specifically for these “touching” minutes. And here is another, very timely -. For a foreigner unfamiliar with our history, who arrived in Moldova for the first time in early March, strange red and white trinkets everywhere seem to be symbols of some mysterious cult, and not delicate spring decorations.
No, we are not enough! Our way of life deserves more diversity, incomprehensible traditions, even the origin of which is incomprehensible. We are talking, of course, about shoes that hang in sad bunches from power wires and tree branches.
Sneakers, boots and sneakers hang on the willows along Komsomolskoye Lake, in the courtyard on Zelinsky Street and in many other places, symbolizing who knows what and "infecting" local teenagers who immediately strive to hang their shoes nearby.
Among the well-known and popular theories about hanging shoes, there are boring ones, some sad ones, and some funny ones.
The most common option: shoes hanging on a pole indicate that the inhabitants of the nearest house sell drugs, and the color and style of the shoes also matter - they can be used to determine the type of drug.
Many guesses are based on the version that hanging shoes symbolize the end of something.: military service, studying at school or university, single life. By the way, in Moldova the last option is one of the most popular, and grooms during wedding photo shoots, indeed, can stop in order to throw pre-prepared old sneakers onto the nearest linden. And weddings in our country, oh, how they love!
Of course, this can also be a sophisticated form of mockery of school bores and first-year students.: After all, what could be funnier?
In addition, shoes on wires may mean that somewhere nearby yard football players lost to the nines: the unspoken "kid" rules require the punishment of a weak team. Is it possible to come up with a more refined punishment and a better incentive not to lose next time than brand new sneakers hanging high above your head?
The most pragmatic of all the versions that we managed to find - shoes hanging on wires mean that not too lucky thieves who trade in non-ferrous metals have been here. Shoes on wires can cause a short circuit, so city services turn off the power to quickly remove interference. At this time, unlucky adventurers are filming wires. True, it often happens that the city authorities do not see a threat in a pair of dangling sneakers, the voltage is not turned off, and the thief remains with his nose and barefoot.
Sad, but plausible in Moldovan realities, the version says that shoes on a tree or pole indicate the place where a person died. To some extent, this is in tune with the Moldovan tradition of putting crosses on the roads at the place of the tragic death.
The most romantic and inspired version claims that shoes on trees and wires are a manifestation of social pop culture - an imitation of famous films and an offshoot of the underground style in art. In the advanced world, such "clusters" can be found near places where representatives of subcultures, enlightened youth and graffiti artists gather. Boots on wires and trees, indeed, have become a separate art form - shu-graffiti, which is widely practiced in Europe.
Some particularly mysterious sources say that the tradition goes back to the customs of the American Indians, who sacrificed their worn-out shoes to the sun, or to the European tribes, who believed that shoes could be useful to a person in the afterlife. Therefore, probably, many shoes get on the wires in excellent condition. Maybe earlier this phenomenon had spiritual roots, but now, in the days of American cinema, everything comes from Hollywood. The touching hero of the tragicomedy "Big Fish" had to throw his shoes on the wire to stay forever in a beautiful but impossible city, and the characters of the film "The Tail Wags the Dog" glorified this innocent act of vandalism as a symbol of freedom and protest against capitalist indifference.
Most likely, the motives of everyone who throws their shoes on a tree or wires are different, but the goal is certainly the same - to perpetuate themselves and their shoes in the memory of people who were not lucky enough to live in the neighborhood.
Journalist: Shura Uskova
I am sure that each of you has repeatedly observed abandoned shoes on electrical wires. Why would someone need to throw sneakers or sneakers on power lines? There are several versions of this. This is called “shoefiti” (English shoefiti), comes from the words “shoe” + “graffiti” and translates as “shoes” + “graffiti”, i.e. shoe graffiti. Sometimes this phenomenon is called “shoe tossing” or “shoe flinging”. Shoes are also thrown on trees.
There are several versions of the origin of the tradition of throwing boots on wires:
1. In the United States, the military celebrated the end of the service in this way, throwing everything that comes to hand into the air. After the first pairs of shoes hung on wires, it became a tradition.
2. Shoes are thrown onto the wires by students in honor of initiation or graduation.
3. Hazing at the university: freshmen's shoes are thrown onto the wires.
4. Sports teams throw their shoes on wires to celebrate a win or a loss.
5. Shoes are thrown onto wires in memory of a person who died in this place.
6. This is the place where drugs are sold.
7. Marking the territory by gangs.
8. Non-ferrous metal thieves throw shoes on wires to create a short circuit. Dispatchers remove voltage from the wires, and thieves at this time remove the wires. Unsuccessfully thrown boots that did not create a short circuit remain on the wires.
Pure Russian version ;-)
9. A hooligan trick from those who watched the cult film “The Tail Wags the Dog” (Wag the Dog), according to the plot of which people who support a soldier forgotten in Albania after the war with the United States, staged by the presidential candidate and his PR people, threw their boots on the wires.
Also, similar scenes were seen in the films: “Big Fish” (Big Fish), “Site 2″ (The Sandlot 2), “Rebel” (Stick It), “Freedom Writers” (Freedom Writers), “Like Mike” (Like Mike), “Dakari” (The Savages).
10. Just a hooligan trick.
There is an opinion that shoes on power lines can represent a kind of ritual. For example, a student who has graduated from high school or university throws up his shoes to mark the occasion. Others may express their joy at marriage or the birth of a child. Even during the Great Patriotic War, soldiers tossed their boots up on electric wires at the end of their basic training or the end of military service.
On the forums there are very strange interpretations of shoes on power lines around the world. For example, in Colombia they believe that shoes will help a sick child recover, in Venezuela, in this way, they hope to get a new pair of shoes (of course, there is nothing to wear anymore :)). In Spain, during a drought, they ask for rain in this way, and in Guatemala they scare away bats.
Sneakers hang on wires in Moscow, and in St. Petersburg, and in other cities around the world: in Spain, the USA and New Zealand, with your head up, you can see sneakers. There are many versions of where the tradition of throwing shoes on wires came from, but the most plausible is related to American drug dealers and ghettos. The Village editors turned to street culture expert, curator and co-organizer of Faces & Laces Dmitry Oskes to explain what hanging sneakers mean for street culture.
Why on wires
hanging sneakers?
Dmitry Oskes
Faces & Laces curator
The phenomenon of sneakers hanging on electric wires in different countries and regions are interpreted differently. No one can say for sure where it came from, when and for what purpose - there are a lot of versions that are sometimes based on urban legends and myths: from the fact that students throw shoes on wires in honor of initiation or graduation, to the fact that do it in memory of the person who died in this place. The most common version - sneakers on wires marked a place where drugs are sold.
One way or another, sneakers on wires are now part of urban culture, and if I see this in the West, I perceive this phenomenon as very close to the graffiti tag: this is another opportunity to mark and visually change the place a person has visited in a very individual way. Moreover, in the West it looks even more defiant in relation to society, the usual visual range for the city dweller is violated, respectively, he does not feel safe.
Indeed, sneakers on wires can most often be found there either in very disadvantaged areas, places of accumulation of drug dealers, pronounced ghettos on a national basis, or simply in subcultural places - graffiti spots, art clusters, where different young audiences gather according to their interests. Although, of course, sneakers can be found anywhere, without reference to the above.
But if in the United States and most Western countries this phenomenon can have a sociocultural basis, then in Russia it is just a tribute to aesthetics. Here the meaning is not particularly deep and is close to, first of all, imitating the western ghetto picture in an accessible way - with the help of such a solution, a certain place becomes more marginal.
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Illustration: Sasha Pokhvalin