Title: Mirror on the Door

General information about the item:

• Superstition, House Superstition
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: Vietnam
• Informant: KL
• Date Collected: Oct 21, 2021

Informant Data:

KL was born into a family of Vietnamese immigrants. He initially lived in New York City, but eventually relocated to Burlington, NC to attend high school. He is a junior at Dartmouth College, studying economics

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: 

The Vietnamese are typically firm believers in ‘Feng Shui’i; arrangement of furniture and items in the house that promote good flow of energy throughout the house. Viet households are typically meticulously planned and laid out by the matriarch of the family. Mirrors are particularly important in planning various aspects of ‘Feng Shui’.

Social Context: 

As the mother typically is well versed in traditional superstitions related to Feng Shui, KL received knowledge of this practice through his mother. It is disrespectful to alter the Feng Shui of a room that has already been set up, so children in Viet families are often informed of various traditions through their parental units. 

Item:

Mirrors are often forbidden to be placed in certain areas of the house: at the foot of the bed, for example, a mirror is thought to bring bad spirits as energy is reflected back into ones-self from nightmares. Mirrors can also have the opposite effect, however. To protect positive Feng Shui, mirrors are placed on the front of the front door to ward off bad spirits and energies from entering the house. An evil spirit, before entering the house, would be afraid of its own reflection, and therefore not enter the abode. 

Informants Comments:

Very common in Vietnam, less common in US.

Collectors Comments:

It might strike some as unusual to put a mirror on the front door in the US given cultural contexts.

Collectors Name: Noah Hensley

Tags/Keywords:

Superstition

Vietnamese

Parents

Vietnam

Feng Shui, Mirrors