Diversity is certainly a lovely thing. People have their unique traditions and customs all around the world, which is why traveling can be such a profound and significant experience. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned and how my horizons have expanded simply by making an effort to visit areas I’ve never gone before. In doing so, I find that I not only grow as a person, but also gain insight into aspects of foreign cultures that I would never have learned from a textbook or television program.

If you consider yourself a global citizen, you’ll be fascinated by how people from various corners of the world differ from one another. We all have peculiar customs that are deeply ingrained in one tradition or another and frequently make for fascinating reading. Today’s program includes something that piqued my interest while traveling through the Midwest of America last summer. I was sitting in the backseat of a car, minding my own business, when I noticed a cowboy boot on a fence post.

I noticed another a few miles down the road, followed by another about an hour later. In any event, there were much too many to be coincidences, so I decided to look into it when I got home. Surprisingly, leaving old boots serves a useful purpose: there are several reasons why cowboys, farmers, and ranchers have long opted to display them in this manner.

Boots as a Symbol. It makes sense for ranchers to have a connection to their boots. Heavy-duty boots, far from being a fashion statement, have for decades protected their feet throughout long working days. When a rancher puts his or her old boots on a fence post, it can be viewed as a sign of all the effort they have put in. Furthermore, the wear and tear reflects the individual who wore them, giving a message of the hard labor that many ranchers and farmers put in to produce the items that help feed the rest of the country.

Honoring the Past. Boots on a fence post can also be a tribute to those who have passed away. Ranchers reportedly place the boots of deceased loved ones and respected peers on fence posts, making a prominent monument to their memory that can be seen by anyone who passes.

Similarly, this custom might be used when a rancher loses his or her horse. The professional relationship between man and horse has evolved over thousands of years and remains just as strong now in regions of the world where people still rely on horses to do their tasks.When a particularly special horse is sold or dies, a cowboy or rancher may place a pair of boots on the fence as a sign of respect for the animal.

Rancher is at home. This is an older ritual that was typical practice before cellphones and electricity were developed. In those days, determining whether or not someone was at home was more complicated than sending a message or phoning a few numbers. No, there was no genuine substitute for physically visiting that person’s home and checking for yourself. Ranchers could hang their boots to let people know they were home, which served as a basic kind of communication.

Landmark. Setting something like an old boot on a fence post has the advantage of providing important points of reference for directions and navigation, even in the most distant rural locations. This, I would only assume, would be extremely useful for folks who are not from the area. Not to mention that they do a wonderful job of shielding the fence post in question from weather damage!