A mirror is both a familiar everyday item and at the same time a magical object. Therefore, many signs and beliefs, traditions and prohibitions are associated with it. For example, why do mirrors hang when a person dies?
From ancient times, the mirror was considered a symbol of the doubling of reality and the boundary between worlds, between the earthly and the otherworldly. The need to close it with some thick cloth, turn it against the wall or move it to another room, or even remove it from the house where the dead man is located, stems from fear of an open door to the other world. That is why mirrors are hung when a person dies.
It is believed that within three days after death, the soul can return to the body that it has abandoned. Related to this is another answer to the question of why mirrors are hung when a person dies: reflected in the mirror, she can go into the mirror labyrinth, which is her trap. If the soul gets there, it will be selected soon or will remain in the mirror forever. Even if this does not happen, it will simply, as they say, "yearn" for the dead man and show scenes from his life. On the other hand, many believe that the one who sees in the mirror the deceased will soon go after him.
With an open mirror, it is also forbidden to conduct church rites over the deceased, because it reflects the opposite, and the cross on the contrary is blasphemy. Therefore, in the churches there are no mirrors, and there are not many mirror surfaces there. As a portal to the other world, the mirror can draw in prayers, so that they remain unanswered.
Why hang mirrors when a baby is born? There is such a belief: a baby who is not yet a year old should not be brought to the mirror. Reflection can frighten him, and he will lose sleep or will see nightmares, and also will soon learn to talk. A very bad sign is to bring an unbaptized child to the mirror, especially at night.
Even just looking in the mirror is recommended only with a positive attitude, so that your own negative does not double, like everything that is reflected in the mirror. It is also harmful to turn in front of a mirror too often: it does not reflect either the real appearance of a person, or, moreover, his inner essence.
The death of someone from the household is not the only reason to be careful with mirrors. Why do mirrors hang when a person dies, as well as in difficult and dangerous times? You can’t look in the mirror at midnight and after midnight, as well as in a thunderstorm, and especially on Good Friday: it is believed that then you can see the devil in it. Look in the mirror is not recommended for pregnant and lactating women. On dangerous days and hours, it is better to close or turn the mirrors against the wall.
Most people know what to do when a person dies: quickly put up mirrors so that they do not see anything superfluous, and people do too. All this can be considered just old superstitions, with the help of which our ancestors explained the world around them for lack of the best: at the moment, science did not find anything especially terrible in the mirrors. But death has not yet been studied.