Oops! Broke a Mirror - 7 Years Bad Luck?

An old wives tale a week.

Breaking a mirror means 7 years bad luck?

This well known old wives tale has been around for almost as long as mirrors have and that is a very long time.  (Mirrors were being made as far back as 6000 BC and probably earlier.)  This is one of many superstitions involving mirrors and like many mirror myths it is linked to the belief that a mirror is a reflection for a persons soul or part of it.

A soul was meant to take 7 years to heal if broken and if a mirror as a part reflector of a soul was broken it stood to the reasoning of the believers that it would then take 7 years for the soul now broken to heal again.  There were a few rituals that could and still can be performed if a mirror is broken to prevent being cursed with bad luck.  The mirror can be ground down to dust which stops your broken soul from being reflected or the pieces of the broken mirror can be gathered carefully and buried.  (No need to do it at midnight on a full moon at crossroads or anything like that although I would still feel a little silly if I buried a mirror.  That shouldn't stop you if it will make you feel better to perform a ritual if you are in that situation.)  

Is this popular old wives tale real?  No there is no proof that this is real although many people swear it is so.  7 years seems an awfully long time to suffer bad luck for accidentally breaking a mirror though it would feel like bad luck to break a mirror and perhaps more so in the past when purchasing mirrors was out of the price range of many as they were (and still are) quite expensive. Real or not this old wives tale is sure to continue to be the first thought of the clumsy in the moment straight after a mirror is accidentally broken.