Title: Don’t Break Any Mirrors
General Information about Item:
- Genre and Sub Genre
- Verbal Folklore: Superstition
- Language: English
- Country where Item is from: United States
Informant Data:
- Matt Vance is a student of the class of 2018 and has roots in the Irish, English, and Dutch. He was born in London and raised in New York. He is agnostic, he is fiscally conservative and socially democratic. His hobby is reading and running. He hopes to help people and be a good father.
Contextual Data:
- Social Context: The informant learned this superstition when he was 10 at a camp and learned it when he started hearing other kids warning him about breaking mirrors.
- Cultural Context: Centuries ago, mirrors were not cheap and not taken for granted as they are today. Mirrors were expensive and almost like a luxury item, so therefore breaking one would deliver bad luck.
Item:
- Bad Luck Superstition: Breaking mirrors brings bad luck.
Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):
Transcript of Associated File:
Informant’s Comments:
- Matt said he believes in karma, or the notion that if you mess with the universe, it messes with you back. Moreover, Matt doesn’t take these superstitions for face value and chooses to follow them loosely. Not breaking any mirrors, however, is one superstition he chooses to follow.
Collector’s Comments:
- It’s interesting to see that Matt avoids breaking windows considering he follows all the other superstitions loosely. Even though mirrors are not as expensive as they were in the past, breaking them today is still generally avoided because mirrors provide utility and replacing one is a hassle.
Collector’s Name: Gaurav Varma
Tags/Keywords:
- American/Bad Luck/Superstition/Breaking/Mirrors