Free slippers! And other excellent domestic traditions from around the world

Australia is overflowing with proud domestic traditions. From the Hills Hoist – and its affiliated recreational activity, goon of fortune – to the big-ass backyard barbie, many Aussie homes are chock-full of features to bring out your inner “Oi! Oi! Oi!”

The world, however, is a vast and endlessly fascinating place, replete with intriguing household habits that don’t involve cask wine.

So dust off your passport, we’re off on a whistle-stop world tour.

The housewarming

My own personal first-night-in-a-new-home tradition involves sending my husband out in search of the nearest takeaway. Turns out many countries have more thoughtful habits.

The phrase ‘housewarming’ dates back to medieval times, when guests would bring wood and light fires in a new home to ward off evil spirits.

Which is all well and good, but give me a traditional Latvian housewarming gift any day: a hunk of bread and a box of salt. Popular in Finland and Lithuania too, this housewarming tradition was immortalised in the 1946 film It’s A Wonderful Life when James Stewart’s character gives bread, salt and a bottle of wine to the Italian immigrant Mr Martini, saying: “Bread, that this house may never know hunger. Salt, that life may always have flavour. And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever.”

Meanwhile, in parts of India, a cow – a sacred animal in Hinduism – is invited to be the first visitor to a new home.

Shoes off at the door

My Australian country cousins assure me that taking your shoes off at the door is the done thing in areas where there’s a risk your shoe might contain remnants of cow pat.

Removing one’s shoes at the door is a widespread practice in many parts of the world, including much of Asia and eastern Europe. If you’re lucky, you’ll even be offered guest slippers to wear during your visit, sometimes even a different pair for trips to the toilet. Probably best to wear your nice socks though, just in case.

The doona dilemma

Modern relationships are beset by myriad problems in the bedroom. From nightly doona tug-o-war to mismatched internal barometers, it’s almost enough to make you take separate rooms. Why not make like a Swede (or German or Austrian) and introduce a double-doona rule? With two single doonas on a queen or king bed, everyone’s a winner, and the party who doesn’t feel the cold isn’t forced to slow-roast their internal organs each night. Go hard-core Scandi and ditch the top sheet too. Controversial, eh?

​Photo: Stocksy

Daytime sleeps

Go one better than a food coma with a full-blown siesta after lunch. Daytime sleeps were once common throughout the Mediterranean and southern Europe. As Spain’s influence spread, the custom was also adopted in the Philippines and Latin American countries, too. Though the practice is not as widespread as it once was, there are compelling reasons why it should be embraced once again. Scientists have identified links between daytime sleeps and cardiovascular benefits. It’s a great way to escape the hottest part of the day. And you’ll have enough energy to party all night.

Paint the blues

In some southern states of the United States, it’s customary to paint the porch ceiling ‘haint blue’. In Gullah mythology (Gullah were descendants of African slaves), haint spirits were believed to be incapable of crossing water. Blue symbolises a body of water between the home and the outside world. The colour was also thought to repel insects, though this probably had more to do with the lime in traditional paints than the colour itself.

Come clean

The days of weekly baths – and bathwater shared by the whole family – seem positively prehistoric in modern Australia. In Brazil, two showers – or more – a day is perfectly normal. In Japan, it’s customary to soap and rinse before stepping into the tub. Bathing is as much a social as a hygienic event in Turkey, Morocco, Hungary, Japan and anywhere else with bathhouses outside the home.

Toilets, meanwhile, seem so boring in Australia compared with the design of Germany’s ‘shelf’ toilets, assorted squat varieties and, of course, the exotic and quite frankly baffling bidet. Bum gun, anyone?

Photo: Stocksy