Table of contents:
- The legend that the devil brought the mirror into the world
- Small sun "beholder" from which someone is looking
- Why mirrors couldn't be hung in the bedroom
- Gates to the underworld and mirrored doubles
Video: Why in Russia they were wary of the mirror and what superstitions are associated with it
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In Russia, mirrors were treated with caution, considering them to be magical objects, which are often used by sorcerers and fortune-tellers. During pagan times, in some regions it was not even allowed to have a mirror in the house, it was left outside. There were other prohibitions: for example, pregnant women were not supposed to admire themselves in the mirror. A baby who sees his reflection, according to the people, will cry for a long time, fall asleep badly. Read why the mirror could not be hung in the bedroom, who are the mirror doubles and other interesting facts about mirrors in Russia.
The legend that the devil brought the mirror into the world
There is an interesting legend that tells about the origin of the mirror. It says in it about a monk who dared to turn to the king with a request to marry his daughter. The princess agreed, but on one condition: the groom had to find and bring to the palace an object that would show the girl herself. The loving monk thought for a long time what to do, and then hit the road and found a jug with a devil imprisoned in it. He begged to open the jug and release it, promising to fulfill any desire.
The monk complied with the request, and as a reckoning asked to bring him the ordered princess object. After that, the man went to the princess and presented her with a mirror. But he did not marry her, because the meeting with the devil shocked him so much that he decided to return to the skete and spend his life in prayer and repentance. After all, he released the devil free. The mirror remained in the palace.
Researchers believe that this legend gave rise to the belief that if you look in the mirror during the day, you can see yourself, but at night the devil is looking from there. And since this creature is insidious, cruel, cunning, it is able to jinx a person, read his thoughts when he looks at the mirror surface, disrupt his plans, or even incite him to sinful deeds.
Small sun "beholder" from which someone is looking
The ancient Slavs believed that someone was sure to observe a person from the mirror. It is not for nothing that this object was called among the people "the gazer". And if we consider directly the name "mirror", then it is clear that this word is akin to the old verb "contemplate". At the same time, in folk tales, they did not talk about what is reflected in the mirror, but precisely about the fact that someone is looking from it. And this "someone" is hostile, cunning and insidious. Most likely, in ancient times, the mirror was associated with the sun. After all, at night the luminary sets in, and the people said that it was obscured by the night evil. There have always been superstitions that breaking a mirror - to grief, death, and the very damage of this object was associated with a solar eclipse, which in pagan mythology was considered the tricks of evil spirits and could predict terrible troubles, wars, catastrophes.
The Russian people have always believed that the mirror is endowed with witchcraft power, is related to magic, fortune-telling. In the old days, not all girls dared to evoke the image of their betrothed by wondering in the mirror. They said that even if the husband appears in the reflection, then after the wedding he will be very angry or die early. In other words, the unclean woman agreed to predict fate, but punished for the fact that a person divined, since this was considered a sin.
Why mirrors couldn't be hung in the bedroom
In Russia, it was believed that a sleeping person is defenseless against evil spirits. Therefore, sleeping in front of the mirror was strongly discouraged. They said that a dead person or a devil could jump out of the mirror, steal a soul or send trouble. Here you can draw a parallel with a broken mirror - this trouble was explained by the fact that the reflection is dying, the soul is smashed to smithereens. So, from the mirror, the devil could spy on a person, capable of having a negative impact, sending nightmares, subjecting to temptations, harming a person. Therefore, fearing such events, they tried to hang mirrors in Russia or put them as far as possible from the sleeping place. Before going to bed, a prayer was always read, and also one should have overshadowed oneself with the sign of the cross, so that the devil living behind the mirror surface could not accomplish his insidious deed.
Gates to the underworld and mirrored doubles
Since ancient times in Russia, and not only, it was believed that mirrors open the gates to the otherworldly worlds. A variety of evil spirits are hiding there, the souls of the dead and ghosts dwell, and the mirror with its shiny smooth surface is used by them to spy on people. And sometimes, when the opportunity arises, even penetrate the human world. Hence the rule: if a person died in the house, all mirrors should be covered with black cloth. This was done so that the deceased could not get lost in the mirror labyrinths and then frighten his loved ones. There was another terrible sign: that relative of the deceased who, after this terrible event, looks in the mirror first, will soon also go into another world. When a person fell seriously ill, he was not given a mirror, so that evil spirits would not steal the soul from the weakened organism.
Some superstitions have survived to this day. Mirrors are considered magical objects. And in ancient times, illiterate peasants considered them to be real doors to other worlds, where you can see your mirror double, which in fact may turn out to be the devil or the dead. Fortune-telling is based on this, when two mirrors are set against each other and an endless mirror corridor appears.
Mirrors were considered mystical not only in Russia. In China, masters created such mirrors, over the secrets of which scientists are still struggling.
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