Why many still believe that broken mirrors cause bad luck – a superstition from Roman times?

Every human culture has superstitions. In some Asian societies, people believe that sweeping a floor after sunset brings bad luck and that it is a curse to leave chopsticks standing in a bowl of rice. In the United States, some people panic if they accidentally walk under a ladder or see a black cat cross their path. Also, many tall buildings do not label their 13th floors as such because of that number’s association with bad luck.

The origins of many superstitions are unknown. Others can be traced to specific times in history. Included in this second category is a superstition that is between 2,000 and 2,700 years old: breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. It so happened that in both ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, reflected images were thought to have mysterious powers. It is likely in one of these times and places that the broken mirror superstition began its rise in popularity.

As a social psychologist who studies various ways that people influence one another, I am fascinated when groups generate beliefs that are pure “social constructions” without necessarily having any basis in reality. I argue that the superstition about broken mirrors may be rooted in these ancient beliefs.

Historical origins

The Greeks believed that one’s reflection on the surface of a pool of water…

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