Don't Step on the Threshold, Don't Sit on It Either — Elders Say That's the Door God's Shoulder

The thresholds of old houses — adults teach you from childhood: when entering, lift your foot and step over; you must not step on it, and you must not sit on it.

As for why, there are many versions. The most common one: the threshold is a household's "boundary"; inside is where the living pass their days, outside is the outside world, and the threshold is that line. The Door God guards this line; stepping on it is equivalent to stepping on his shoulder.

Another version puts it more seriously: the family's "fortune" is pressed beneath the threshold; sit on it, and you'll sit your luck away. Yet another is told to girls: sit on the threshold, and you won't get married; even if you do, you won't stay married.

One with a supernatural flavor goes like this: ghosts can't enter the door, but they can linger outside the threshold; the threshold at night is a resting place for "wayfarers." A person sitting on it is fighting them for a spot.

Some explain it practically: old thresholds were high and thick; sitting on them made you easy to trip over, and stepping on them daily kept the door from closing tight. Better to teach children from a young age "that's the Door God's shoulder" so they wouldn't dare go near it.

In old-fashioned weddings, the bride had to step over a fire basin and a saddle when entering; her feet must not touch the threshold — that custom carries this meaning as well.

#Folklore #网络转载 #民间禁忌 #老房子