Breaking Mirror Superstition

As per a common belief, breaking a mirror is calling for a cosmic penance of bad luck that one must endure for seven years. The belief also provides for tricks to counteract the effect of breaking a mirror.

The Breaking Mirror Superstition

A broken mirror reflecting a distorted image was indicative of a corrupt soul and people who saw their reflections in broken pieces thus called for misfortune. The superstition itself was a combination of two superstitions – Bizarro world and seven years of revival. People believed that breaking a mirror entrapped the soul in a Bizarro world (where people act in the way opposite to that on earth) that the mirror represented. This resulted in bad health and thus bad fortune. The Romans also believed that the physical body revived itself in seven years. Therefore, the time period for facing the consequences was seven years.

Origin of ‘Breaking Mirror Superstition’

The beginnings of this belief might lie in the fact that when mirrors were first made of glass, they were so expensive that anyone who broke a mirror was indentured as a servant to the owner of the mirror for seven years if he could not afford to replace the mirror. Before mirrors were invented, people would gaze at their reflection in ponds or lakes or any standing water body. If the image was distorted, it was believed to be an omen of impending disaster. Later, when the ancient Egyptians and Greeks began to used polished metal surfaces as mirrors, they considered these metals to have magical properties.

Breaking Mirror: Undoing the Bad Omen

As per superstitious beliefs, the best way of undoing the bad omen was to ground the broken mirror into dust and mix it with sand. Since the pieces could no longer reflect, the mirror shreds could no longer reflect corrupt souls, preventing the spread of misfortune. As per African beliefs, the person needed to wash away these pieces in the river flowing in the southern direction to avoid the misfortune.