Old shoes were buried on Monday mornings to protect against evil influences throughout the week.

Burying Old Shoes to Keep Evil Away for the Week

Details

This practice consisted of burying the worn soles of shoes on Monday morning, traditionally by Black domestic workers or formerly enslaved people in the southern United States. It was believed that by placing worn shoes—often symbolizing miles walked and burdens carried—into the earth at the beginning of the week, one symbolically buried hardship and warded off bad spirits or misfortune. The shoes, particularly the soles, represented physical contact with the world, and burying them metaphorically grounded or suppressed evil presences such as ‘the devil.’ The ritual acted as a protective barrier for the coming week, characterizing shoes not merely as worn objects, but as spiritual tools. The timing—Monday morning—suggests a desire to start the workweek fresh, both physically and spiritually.

Historical Context

This superstition appeared to be practiced primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries among African Americans in the Southern United States. It reflects syncretic spiritual traditions blending African cosmologies, residual slavery-era folk practices, and Christian symbolism. In these belief systems, common household items, including shoes, could have spiritual meaning. The act of burying shoes may also connect with African burial customs wherein objects tied to the spirit or physical journey of an individual were returned to the earth. Because many formerly enslaved African Americans retained and adapted spiritual systems from their African heritage, rituals involving protection, cursing, or cleansing were often performed using accessible personal items like shoes, pins, or everyday herbs.

Modern Relevance

This specific ritual of burying shoes on Monday morning is no longer widely practiced, but elements of the belief survive in broader African American folk traditions and Hoodoo practices. Modern equivalents include cleansing rituals timed with the start of the week, use of symbolic objects for protection, and spiritual ‘reset’ practices via salt, herbs, or incantations. In some folk traditions, old shoes are still considered spiritually charged and are either discarded ritualistically or burned rather than thrown away. On social media and within spiritual wellness spaces, protection rituals have gained renewed interest, but the direct connection to this shoe-burying practice has largely faded or evolved.

Sources

Puckett, Newbell Niles. ‘Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro.’ University of North Carolina Press, 1926.

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