This is an adorable card, and combines my love of dachshunds with something typical for the country: the wooden clogs or "klompen" as they call them in Dutch. Since I have two dachshunds myself, it's not that hard to see why I love the dachshund in the card, but it's great to see the combination with the more artistic clog.
Clogs are wooden shoes, and are found in many different countries in Europe (the Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, and several more). The exact origin of these shoes are hard to determine, because wood eventually rots so there aren't that many clogs found in excavations. Plus clogs that were no longer fit to be worn, were oftentimes just used as firewood.
The oldest wooden footwear that still exist today, are found in the Netherlands and date back to the 1200's. They look surprisingly similar to the style that they still around today, even though most people no longer wear the wooden clogs in everyday life. It has become more of a traditional thing now. Some exceptions are farmers and gardeners, but mainly people have replaced them with the more lightweight leather or synthetic ones.
In the Netherlands, the "klompen" have officially been accepted as safety shoes as an alternative to the steel capped boots. They are effective against sharp objects and some concentrated acids, but since wood cracks rather than dents, they are actually safer than the steel capped variety since they don't have the risk of putting a lot of pressure on the toes in case of a serious accident. It also makes for easier removal of the shoe.
Well, I never thought of clogs doubling as safety shoes, but there you have it... Until next time!
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