Do you know that people used to throw the bride's shoe during the ceremony? The symbolism of the shoe is doubtless older than any existing nation. Ruth's kinsman pulled off his to indicate that he had resigned all command over her. Among the Assyrians and Jews, when a bargain had been made, a man sometimes gave his sandal as a token of good faith. Every small boy at one time could testify that it was a symbol of authority, and some married men were said to have "lived under the slipper."
But the wedding shoe is thought to be a relic of the ancient times when the pursuing father hurled missiles at the robber groom. Among the Anglo-Saxons it was customary to throw a sandal after the bridal chariot to show that authority had been transferred to the husband, and at the wedding itself the father often handed the shoe to the groom, who, by way of reminder, tapped his wife's head with it. It was then hung over the groom's pillow in the bridal bed; but sometimes, when the bride was known to have a will of her own, practical jokers slipped into the chamber and transferred it to the wife's pillow.
The medieval Germans always threw the bride's slipper from the bedroom to the guests, and then indeed there was scrambling; for the person capturing it would be the next to marry. Then would the gallants carry it to the dining room, fill it with wine, and drink to the bride's eternal prosperity.
Selecting the perfect wedding shoes.
Among the Ancient Israelites "to cast the sandal or shoe over" meant "to take possession of." "Moab is my washbasin, on Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph." Psalm 60:8 Also, the symbolic action of giving a sandal to any one denoted a declining of a duty or right: "That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled." Deuteronomy 25:10 and Now in those days it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a
right of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party.
This publicly validated the transaction. So the other family redeemer drew off his sandal as he said to Boaz, "You buy the land." Ruth 4: 7,8.
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