People tend to believe in omens. A broken mirror is considered a bad sign, which is believed to bring misfortune for the next seven years. This superstition is rooted in a deep history when our ancestors looked at their reflection in the water. It was believed that from the surface of the reservoir, his soul gazes at a person. If the water began to worry for some reason, this could harm the owner of the reflection.
According to ancient myths
As soon as the mirrors appeared, they were immediately endowed with imaginary magical powers. People thought that from the other side, in addition to reflection, the gods gaze at them, and thereby protect them from misfortunes. The ancient shamans invariably used mirrors for their occult rites. This means that the magic item was endowed with the power of divination. People believed that a broken mirror broke the connection between man and the gods and deprived him of all protection. Thus, the soul and body of the person who looked at their reflection in the fragments last, were doomed to misfortune.
Belief about seven years of bad luck
Who first tied the belief of seven years of misery to the broken mirror? These were the ancient Romans who firmly believed in the scriptures that spoke of seven years of soul renewal. Even if something terrible happened, bad luck could not last longer than seven years. After the specified period, the soul had the right to start life from scratch. The curse was completely removed, and the body was cleansed. The Romans believed that at the end of a severe punishment, they could count on body rejuvenation. If it seemed to you that people beat their household items on purpose, you are mistaken. This was impossible, since mirrors were very rare, although their quality left much to be desired. Therefore, it was not difficult to break the object by negligence.
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In order to preserve scarce gizmos
Probably, someone deliberately began to cultivate the belief that a broken mirror brings a person seven years of misery. Such tactics forced our ancestors to be careful and more careful with interior items.
Rites to remove the curse
Observant people immediately invented rituals that could remove damage. However, they had to be observed exactly. The Romans are the authors of the most popular measure to avoid adversity. The unfortunate man, who accidentally broke a mirror, had to collect all the fragments and bury them in damp earth in an area far from his home, in the moonlight. During the day, it was forbidden to look into the broken fragments, therefore, most often they were immediately folded face-to-face to each other and wrapped in cloth.
Later, this custom had an addition: the owner of a broken mirror could paint over the fragments with dark paint. Other measures included washing the debris in running water or crushing them into fine particles so that no particle could ever reflect anything.
An option for the busy and lazy
If the unfortunate man had too little time, he could avoid the misfortune, leaving the fragments intact for seven hours (one for each year of bad luck), and then, with the sound of the cuckoo, get rid of them. And only then each nation began to add something from their ethnic traditions here. As you can see, people themselves came up with a superstition associated with misfortune, and they themselves found several options for getting rid of it. Otherwise life would be boring.
Inga Kaisina