These boots are meant for stomping

In medieval times, klompen, or wooden clogs, were the footwear of choice among Dutch farmers, fishermen, and artisans. It’s hard to visualize anyone traipsing around in them, but evidently they provided much comfort — and served as a hardy insulation from sharp implements. Wooden clogs were even worn to dances, with the dancers setting up a rhythm by tapping the toes and heels on the floor. And in an earlier time, young Dutch men presented their fiancées with wooden shoes as an expression of endearment. For all its place in Dutch cultural history, though, the klompen today serve only as miniature souvenirs, at about €10 a pair. But they’re so much a part of Dutch consciousness that they stomp into everyday idioms: ‘To feel something in your wooden shoes’ means to feel something in your bones; ‘My wooden shoe broke’ implies a failure to comprehend fully; to ‘arrive at a feast with wooden shoes’ is to tread into areas where you don’t belong. This colourful pair was gifted to me by a friend as a reminder of a visit to Amsterdam; perhaps it’s just my imagination, but I suspect they break into a foot-stomping jig from time to time.