Shoes Around the World

My 6th grader had to make an "...Around the World" poster for school. She chose to do "Shoes Around the World." We first discovered the Bata shoe museum in Toronta Canada that provided her with most of the information for her project - the images came from other sources. It turned out to be a fascinating project! I thought I would share her work - after receiving her permission of course. (The only thing I didn't get was a picture of the finished poster!)

Shoes Around the World
Korea
Like in Japan, Koreans don’t wear shoes inside. They mostly wear black shoes and occasionally wear colorful shoes. Namakshins were worn for wet weather to raise them above the puddles of mud.










Middle East
In the Middle East most people are Muslim and cannot wear shoes in the Mosques when they pray. They wear babouches with a folded down heel for easy on, easy off. This shoe also helps their feet from getting too hot.























China
Chinese people with different cultures and social status wear different types of shoes. Although some women would bind their feet to make them look small, women from Manchuria would wear shoes with a single, column-like pedestal that would make them look tall and walk gracefully. They wore these shoes in the 19th century.


















India
Feet and shoes are important in religious and social life. While most people go barefoot, the shoe is reserved for very special occasions. The mojari is worn in Northern India and has a curled toe and an open back.










Africa
Because of the hot climate, most Africans in the past either didn’t wear any shoes at all, or wore sandals to allow circulation of air. Leather and rawhide are the most common materials used to make shoes. In Ziare people wore wooden toe-knob sandals for ceremonies or very special occasions.























Greenland
People in Greenland used to wear tall boots throughout the summer and the winter. They wore many different varieties of boots depending on the season. The boots were mostly made of sealskin and were dyed beautiful colors for special occasions.























Japan
In Japan people do not wear shoes inside. They mostly wear getas outside. Getas are shoes that have wooden stilts to lift them up so their feet don’t get dirty, and to make them look pretty.














United States
This is an example of the type of shoes a typical sixth grader would wear in the United States. They are worn for both fashion and function.