Who’s the fairest of them all?
It’s time for Home-Deco-History Post: Round 2! Ding, ding, ding! We’re taking a deep dive into mirrorhistory.com (who knew there was such a thing?), trusty Wikipedia, and an intriguing science journal to help us reflect on mirrors. 😆 #PunIntended
Mirrors are clearly an integral part of our lives. In fact, a recent study revealed that on average, women look in the mirror about 16 times per day while men look about 23 times per day. 😎
History (WARNING: this gets a little creepy)
Original Mirror
The flattest, smoothest, darkest body of water possible. No surprise here. 😯
6,000 B.C., Turkey
The oldest mirrors known to man were made of polished obsidian (volcanic glass), and recovered from graves in a cemetery of “secondary burials.” A secondary burial is exactly what you think: the remains were exhumed and moved elsewhere. It was customary for a mirror to be found with the remains of females, but archaeologists rarely found mirrors with men. Here is one of these mirrors:
3100 B.C., Egypt
The Egyptians started making mirrors by smoothing out stone and dampening the surface, but this didn’t work very well because the water would evaporate quickly. 😆
The Egyptians believed that mirrors symbolized the “inner self,” and that it held magical properties, while the Chinese believed they were a way to look back in time and reflect on your wrong-doings.
Today, many superstitious people believe breaking a mirror will bring you 7 years of bad luck. This originates from the belief that it’s your soul reflecting in a mirror and hurting your reflection hurts your soul. An old Roman tale states that the soul regenerates every 7 years, so if you break the mirror, you break your soul for 7 years. I’ll admit, I’m a skeptic. 😕
Fortunately, the Romans gave several ways to reverse the bad luck…
- Bury the broken pieces in the moonlight
- Throw the broken pieces in a river
- Break it into smaller pieces so it can never reflect anything again
- Light 7 white candles and blow them out at midnight in one breath while touching one piece of the mirror to a tombstone (riigghht, 🙄 )
- Make the sign of the cross with a $5 bill (not from the Romans)
Mirrors Today
Mirrors are good for more than just taking in your beautiful reflection. They’re an accent piece that can help open up a room as well as bring in more light! We just hung a nice big mirror in our dining area (Home Goods, $50!) –
Don’t be afraid to go bold with mirrors!
Love the history lesson!! Who knew?! I love mirrors too and I could probably use a few more. You’re right, they can really open a room up!