Why are the wires in our city hung with all kinds of shoes?

“Several times I noticed a pair of either sneakers or boots hanging from wires on the streets of the city. Does anyone know what the joke is, why they came up with this, and how they climb up to hang them?” asks Brief_Chatter.

The Odintsovo-INFO correspondent also asked similar questions while examining another shoe installation at Lyceum No. 2 last summer:

Marisa also published several pictures taken elsewhere:

In the comments to Brief_Chatter's post, user Vika said that she heard that football fans were throwing sneakers over the wires after the match. “True, I don’t remember for what reason,” writes Vika.

Meanwhile, SATANIZMO admitted that he has been throwing boots onto wires and trees for a long time, but he does it “purely for fun” so that worn-out sneakers and grinds can live on.

And the all-knowing dimmik shared a link that says that shoes on wires are nothing more than “Shufiti” - shoe graffiti. It turns out that this is a whole subculture! True, it has not yet reached Russia on the scale on which it is raging in the West.

So, there are several versions of the origin of the tradition of throwing shoes on wires:

1. In the United States, the military celebrated the end of service by throwing everything they could get their hands on 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 to celebrate initiation or graduation.

3. Hazing at the university: freshmen's shoes are thrown onto the wires.

4. Sports teams throw shoes on wires to celebrate a loss or a win. (in our case, we are more likely talking about the fans, about whom Vika wrote. Try to imagine: immediately after the victorious match, Odintsovo’s “Iskra” all board a bus and leave the Volleyball Center to the second school to throw their shoes...)

5. Shoes are thrown onto the wires in memory of the person who died in this place (a very dubious option for a funeral).

6. This is the name for a place where drugs are sold.

7. Marking the territory by gangs.

8. Shoes are thrown onto wires by thieves who trade in non-ferrous metals to create a short circuit. Dispatchers remove the voltage from the wires, while the thieves remove the wires. Unsuccessfully thrown shoes that do not create a short circuit remain on the wires (purely Russian version).

9. A hooligan prank from those who watched the cult film “Wag the Dog”, in the plot of which people throwing boots on wires supported a soldier forgotten in Albania after the war with the United States, staged by a presidential candidate and his PR people.

10. Just a hooligan prank.

The phenomenon of sneakers on wires is familiar to anyone who has visited the disadvantaged areas of New York. However, this is not the only place where you can encounter it. Shoes on wires and trees have been seen in the centers of capitals around the world, in parks, abandoned houses and dozens of other locations. In Letensky Gardens in the Czech Republic, for example, teenagers hang their sneakers on a wire after losing their virginity. Similar phenomena have not escaped Russia - with due care they can be found on the streets from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok. Let's try to determine at least a few reasons for what is happening.

Let's start with the fact that sneakers are one of the few available tools that can hang on a wire and not fall off from there in the wind or rain. It will not be possible to repeat a similar experiment, for example, with a jump rope, since it is much lighter and therefore more vulnerable. So people throwing away shoes have one goal - to preserve the distinctive sign for as long as possible. The main question is what this sign symbolizes.

Ghetto, illegal business, death

One of the most popular versions. It’s no secret that it was subcultures that brought sneakers into everyday life, among which hip-hop stands out. Originating in “black” neighborhoods and accompanied by a lot of showdowns between participants, including the legendary confrontation between the Crips and Bloods gangs in the United States, hip-hop popularized sports shoes. In the fast pace of life, sneakers have become a universal designation for any important places where a criminal sales point is located, the death of a gang member has occurred, or an important decision has been made between groups.

Graffiti, streetball

It is no secret that these hobbies also belong to subcultures, and therefore most likely adopted the tradition from related hip-hop. For graffiti writers, this is an alternative way to mark the place they have visited - sneakers on a wire are visible from afar, even when approaching the location, and the effect clearly justifies the effort. In streetball, which is a street version of basketball, sneakers wore out quite quickly, so players threw used pairs onto wires or trees. Often found in poor neighborhoods in the United States.

In movie

In the 1997 comedy "Cunning," tied shoes hang from electrical and telephone wires. After filming, the cast forgot to pick them up, and they hung on East Capitol Street for several more years. In Burton's Big Fish adventure, villagers threw their shoes over wires to demonstrate their desire to stay in them forever. In the melodrama Everybody's All Right, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, the camera focuses on a dangling pair of shoes at the beginning and end of the film, when main character leaves and returns to the city. In the 2008 American comedy Sex Drive, the characters, while searching for a car service for a broken down car, come across a tree with shoes, where they throw their pairs, walking further barefoot.

Since subcultures characteristic of the United States were much less developed in Russia and the CIS countries, people most often use sneakers to mark a significant event in their lives - entering or graduating from a university or even a wedding. They also throw their shoes over the wires to mark the place where they want to return later. for a long time- analogous to a coin in a fountain. At recent protests in Moscow, politician Alexei Navalny called for throwing shoes as a symbol of the fight against corruption.

But all the individual meanings won't change the fact that sneakers on a wire or a tree are the only reliable way to leave a mark in the midst of a bustling city. There are many known cases where thrown shoes hung for five or even seven years. One of the members of a New York criminal gang threw his sneakers at a traffic light at a small intersection and found them there nine years later, already a legal worker living a completely different life. A real monument that allows you to feel your influence on the style of the metropolis.

Most likely, many of you have at least once noticed a lonely pair of sneakers hanging on electrical wires. What is this strange phenomenon? Let's try to understand this fact. Why are they hanging there and, most importantly, what for. There are many opinions that are similar to the truth and not so much. Let's look at the most common ones, because the reason for the appearance of shoes on wires can be very different, including different countries they may vary.

What does the tradition of hanging sneakers on wires mean?

The phenomenon of shoes hanging on wires is interpreted ambiguously in different areas and in different cities. No one can answer for sure. All answers are based only on city rumors. The most widespread version is that this is how the place where drugs are traded is marked.

Where did the tradition of wired sneakers come from?

Most likely, the beginning of this custom comes from America, from those places where ghetto cultures are concentrated and means the following:

More legitimate explanations include the following:

Purely national domestic traditions of hooliganism:

Why do they hang sneakers on wires in different countries of the world?

Interesting and unusual traditions:

There is a legend that is common among shufiti fans. Sneakers thrown onto the wires will help the spirit of a deceased person in his next life. That's why, sometimes you can see absolutely new shoes on the wires.

What do sneakers on wires mean in Russia?

If in America and in many other Western countries such a tradition has at least some socio-cultural basis, then in our country it is a simple tribute to aesthetics. There is no particular meaning to this - a simple attempt to reproduce in an accessible way the American picture of the ghetto. This approach gives more marginality to certain places.

No matter how you look at it, sneakers hanging on wires are already part of the city’s subculture. And if you see this on the streets of Western cities, then all this is perceived closer to graffiti: as an additional opportunity for personal marking of the place in which a person has been. In Western countries, this has a more provocative appearance because it disrupts people’s usual way of life, and therefore they cannot feel safe in such places.

And, as a rule, sneakers can be found on wires in crime-prone areas, where there are many drug dealers and clusters of various subcultures. Although a similar picture can be seen in completely different places, in no way tied to such things.

I am sure that each of you has repeatedly observed abandoned shoes on electrical wires. Why would someone throw sneakers or sneakers onto power lines? There are several versions on this matter. This is called “shoefiti”, comes from the words “shoe” + “graffiti” and is translated as “shoes” + “graffiti”, i.e. “shoe graffiti.” This phenomenon is sometimes called “shoe tossing” or “shoe flinging”. Shoes are also thrown onto trees.
There are several versions of the origin of the tradition of throwing shoes on wires:

1. In the United States, the military celebrated the end of service by throwing everything they could get their hands on 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 to celebrate initiation or graduation.

3. Hazing at the university: freshmen's shoes are thrown onto the wires.

4. Sports teams throw shoes on wires to celebrate a loss or a win.

5. Shoes are thrown onto the wires in memory of the person who died in this place.

6. This is the name for a place where drugs are sold.

7. Marking the territory by gangs.

8. Shoes are thrown onto wires by thieves who trade in non-ferrous metals to create a short circuit. Dispatchers remove the voltage from the wires, while the thieves remove the wires. Unsuccessfully thrown boots that do not create a short circuit remain on the wires.
Purely Russian version ;-)

9. A hooligan prank from those who watched the cult film “Wag the Dog”, in the plot of which people throwing boots on wires supported a soldier forgotten in Albania after the war with the United States, staged by a presidential candidate and his PR people.
Similar scenes were also seen in the films: “Big Fish”, “The Sandlot 2”, “Stick It”, “Freedom Writers”, “Like Mike” Mike), “Dakari” (The Savages).

10. Just a hooligan prank.

It is believed that wearing shoes on power lines may represent some kind of ritual. For example, a student who graduates from 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 into the air on electrical wires at the end of their basic training or military service.

On forums there are very strange interpretations of shoes on power lines all over the world. For example, in Colombia they believe that shoes will help a sick child recover; in Venezuela, they hope to get a new pair of shoes (of course, there is nothing left to wear :)). In Spain, during a drought, they ask for rain this way, and in Guatemala they scare away bats.

Curiosity is probably what keeps the children in us. Since childhood, I liked to walk to school and look at everything around me: feed the birds, look at beautiful shop windows, look at the roofs of houses. Raising my head, I saw a lot of wires; thin strips of them blocked the view of the blue sky, which made me a little angry. Later, I began to notice how shoes, or more precisely, sneakers, were hanging from the wires. I remember exactly that the last time I saw them was in the center of Bishkek, at the intersection of Toktogul/Manas streets.

So many years later, while walking around the city, I passed by that same intersection, but did not find any sneakers hanging there. Why were they hanging there? Is there an explanation for this?

Once upon a time, my childhood brain made its conclusion: “They are thrown there by happy football players after winning the next game.” Is this really so, we will analyze below.

Google brings up many articles on this topic, but no one can say exactly where and when the tradition of throwing shoes on wires appeared. Here are some popular answers:

1. In the United States, the military celebrated the end of service by throwing everything they could get their hands on 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 to celebrate initiation or graduation.
3. Hazing at a university: freshmen's shoes are thrown onto wires.
4. Sports teams throw shoes on wires to celebrate a loss or a win.
5. Shoes are thrown onto the wires in memory of the person who died in this place.
6. This is a place where drugs are sold.
7. Marking the territory by gangs.
8. A hooligan prank from those who watched the cult film “Wag the Dog”, in the plot of which people throwing their shoes on the wires supported a soldier forgotten in Albania after the war with the United States, staged by a presidential candidate and his PR people. Similar scenes were also seen in the films: “Big Fish”, “The Sandlot 2”, “Stick It”, “Freedom Writers”, “Like Mike” Mike), “Dakari” (The Savages).
9. Electricians throw shoes (or some other weight) so that the wires do not overlap each other in strong winds.

All this resulted in its own subculture, a trend in street art - shufiti(English) shoefitti), from the words “shoe” + “graffiti”, “shoes” + “graffiti”. Now sneakers on wires are already part of urban culture. And if in the West this is more common in some disadvantaged areas, then in the cities of the CIS it is more a tribute to aesthetics.

In recent years, shufiti has become less and less common in our country. If you see or have already seen something like this, be sure to send us photos. We will be glad to read your opinions and attitude towards this kind of street art.