'As a Token of Reverence or Humility'

In 1993, I was assigned to write about the opening of a Buddhist “peace pagoda” in Grafton, about twenty miles east of Albany, N.Y. A photographer accompanied me, a Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War and decades of work at the newspaper. We parked and approached the stupa, a dome-shaped structure that resembles an oversized pith helmet with a spike on top. I was greeted at the door by one of the monks who asked me to remove my shoes before entering. While I was taking them off, the monk asked the same courtesy of the photographer, who refused and started an argument. Soon he was shouting and refusing to enter the building. I asked him to cool off and photograph the exterior of the temple while I went inside and talked to people. I apologized to the monks, did my interviews and we drove back to the office where I wrote my story. I never had a solid explanation for the photographer’s behavior. 

I’ve been reading Sir Thomas Browne again and remembered the embarrassing incident described above in Book V, Chapter VI of his Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Vulgar Errors (1646). The passage describes ancient customs associated with Passover: “The custom of discalceation, or putting off their shoes at meals, is conceived to have been done, as by that means keeping their beds clean.” Here is the OED’s definition of the rare word: “The action of taking off the shoes, esp. as a token of reverence or humility.” Some Masonic organizations also require discalceation during certain rituals.

 

A coda of sorts: One morning I had to work an early shift at the newspaper. While still in the hall outside the newsroom I heard shouting – not an unusual event around the city desk. The photographer I mentioned above and a reporter, also a Korean War veteran, were hollering at each other – very loud and angry. I walked over to referee. They quickly settled down and I asked what the problem was. They explained that they had a difference of opinion over the proper operation of a flamethrower. Even they had to laugh.