I remember being a young girl of five years old, walking around the house near prayer time and wondering why all the mirrors were either covered or flipped upside down or backwards. While slightly being frustrated, curiosity would grab a hold of me and urge my better natures to conspire against the efforts of my determined grandmother. She would ever so fervently and meticulously walk around the house with royal velvet fabrics of red, purple and even gold, dressing every mirror with opulent wonder.

The contrast of the dreamy and indulgent fabrics against the cold, hard mirrors seemed obscure and mysterious. Mirrors weren’t mean to be covered, they were meant to reflect, reveal and refine. I could not and would not understand this. It did not make any sense to my stubborn and far too curious five-year-old mind, no matter what my grandmother said…

“It's not healthy for you to look into a mirror for too long.”

Where did my grandmother come up with such logic? When I looked into a mirror, I saw myself; how could my own reflection hurt me? Nonsense, absolute nonsense, I assured myself as I went on with my mischievous ways. I was determined to unveil every covered mirror, even if it was for a slight moment, for a slight glimpse at the secrets of what I understood to be ordinary mirrors. Could there be something extraordinary about them? Could my grandmother be onto something?

Before the modern mirror existed, people used still waters as mirrors. With heavy hearts and expecting eyes, they would look into the water to see their fates. Superstitions arose with this practice. It was believed that if the image was distorted, the viewer would die. As the mirror changed forms, so did the beliefs. Early on with the invention of the mirror, it was imagined that the reflection one saw was the image of their soul. If the mirror was broken, so was the soul, assuring a person's nearing death. This looming sign of death was given the life span of seven years.

The seven years of bad luck superstition seems to have evolved from an ancient Roman belief that seven years was the time period it took for a soul to heal or renew itself. The Romans came up with the well-known remedy for the ailment of breaking a mirror or looking into a broken mirror: The only way to overcome the seven years bad luck is to bury the broken mirror pieces deeply in the ground.

Along with these superstitions came a variety of others. In many cultures, families would cover all mirrors in the house when someone had passed away. There is a belief that a deceased soul could get trapped within a mirror while wandering through the realms. In some cultures, when a loved one was murdered, died in a tragic accident or from died suffering from unrequited love, it was believed that the restless spirit of dead would be roaming around, looking for a body to posses in order to settle any unresolved issues. The spirit would find you through a mirror.

Now with my grandmother, the superstitions weren’t so much about spirits trying to possess you; it was more about the well-being and health of an individual. She, and many like her in the Afghan culture, had the custom of covering any and all mirrors within the house before performing their daily prayers. It was believed that one should not have any distractions while praising God, especially the distraction of one’s own reflection. Only God is worthy of praise, not the human image.

Therefore, based on this belief, vanity was often looked down upon. One should not highly praise one’s own image. Looking deeply and often into one’s own reflection, the image of one’s soul, would in fact entrap the individual within his or her own self. This is known to be an foreign and dangerous realm, only fit for God’s inquiries. The soul and any reflection of it are regarded scared within the Afghan culture. A bride and a groom are not allowed to see each other in person until they first see each other’s reflections, the images of their souls, in a mirror during the ceremony. The hopeless romantic in me truly loves this practice. This tradition assures for a healthy, happy, and longlasting marriage.

Now, I don’t consider myself a superstitious individual, even though I am fascinated with what’s foreign, fiction and fantastic. With the same curiosity of my 5-year-old self, I implored the reason behind the superstitions about mirrors. I believe that there are two solid sources their origins.

First, it is a human tendency to often attribute supernatural links to things that we do not understand. Mirrors were, are and will always be something intriguing, yet illusory. They were believed to possess a power beyond the natural, a reflection of the truth, thus becoming a source for many mystical and supernatural ideas.

Second, superstitions often originate from scare tactics. Mirrors were originally very expensive, especially ones of high quality. Therefore, mirrors required great care and protection. In order to assure their care and add to their value, superstitions arose through human nature.

#MirrorSelfie: Lisette Model, Self-portrait, 55 Manhattan, 1940s

Today, mirrors are all around us. In fact, I have a room with mirrors for all four walls at home (it’s actually pretty cool).

In our modern world, such superstitions about mirrors have grown weak and foolish. But I can’t help but be haunted with my grandmother’s words: “It's not healthy for you to look into a mirror for too long.”

What about cameras? They take images of us; do they reflect our souls? Is it healthy to take a selfie? In fact, we take selfies nearly every day. Will we soon become entrapped within ourselves, lost within our own souls? Are we already trapped?