This story took place in the 1980s, when the Muscovite Valentina Vesnina was still a child. After all that has happened, Vesnina is sure that she knows how the souls of the departed leave our world.
“They go to the mirrors! And they get to the next world through a mirror tunnel leading there,”the woman assures.
“You, of course, have heard about the old folk custom of covering all the mirrors in the house where the deceased appeared with sheets and rags,” Vesnina continues. “Do you know where it came from, this custom?”
Then the woman told the story itself.
“My parents are communists. So, atheists. They lived and still live in the same state farm near Moscow. Any popular beliefs and superstitions are treated with great irony.
When my grandmother died, they did not cover the mirror of the trellis that stood in the hut with a sheet. I clearly remember that the old lady next door angrily scolded them for this. But they ignored her reproaches. The coffin with the body of the deceased stood on the table directly opposite the trellis with a tall narrow mirror.
When my grandmother died, I was 8 years old. However, I remember very well all that terrible horror that happened in our house on the day of her funeral. Our fellow villagers came to say goodbye to the deceased. The house was full of people. And suddenly one of the women who came screamed in a terrible voice, pointing with her hand at the trellis mirror.
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I looked where she was pointing. And I was stunned! I see the mirror as if covered with a light milky haze. And in the haze my deceased grandmother recedes into the mirror, into its, so to speak, “depth”.
I saw her from the back. The grandmother was wearing the very dress in which she was lying at that moment in the coffin, which stood on the table opposite the trellis …
You can't even imagine what started in our house! Everyone who was in it saw the ghost of the deceased, retreating into the mirror, as if into some kind of tunnel leading. Where? I'm sure to the next world … Here is an explanation of the folk custom of hanging mirrors in the house where someone died and had not yet had time to be buried."
In folk traditions
The tradition of hanging mirrors is followed by almost all people, even those who do not fully understand why this is done. As for popular explanations, today there are several opinions as to why it is necessary to close the mirrors when a person dies.
According to the first opinion, the soul, after leaving the body, is in the room for a certain time. And if she sees herself in the mirror, she might get scared.
There is also a belief that a mirror in some way plays the role of a door between two worlds. If the soul of the deceased gets into the mirror, then it will be stuck there forever, having no chance of liberation.
It is also believed that mirrors have a memory, so if a deceased is reflected there, then his spirit will regularly visit the house as a ghost.
Mirrors in the house of the deceased are also associated with the fate of living people. So, if a person sees in the mirror the reflection of the deceased or his soul, then this will be a clear sign that he will soon die too.
Of course, there are quite a few people who do not believe in such superstitions. But, despite their opinion, they still prefer to adhere to traditions in order to protect themselves from all dangers. After all, who knows what the death of a loved one brings with it.
It is curious that there is no church prescription regarding the closing of mirrors; this is a purely folk tradition that goes deep into the darkness of centuries. Moreover, this tradition is very stable and is carried out everywhere.
It is recommended to close the mirrors in the house immediately after the person has died. But many are interested in the question of how many days you can open the mirrors. It is believed that the curtain can be removed immediately after the funeral is over. But this opinion is wrong. At the funeral, only the burial of the body of the deceased person takes place, but his soul continues to reside in this world until the 40th day.
After this period, the mirrors are opened. There is no point in keeping them closed longer.
