Today I have listened to a very interesting podcast about mirrors (http://www.howstuffworks.com/). According to it, people look at mirrors very often. Mirrors are able to reflect the full picture of a person.
In ancient times people were going to ponds in order to see their reflections. Historians say, that first mirrors were found 6000 BC, in Turkey, Anatolia.
But it wasn’t like the contemporary mirror. They used polished obsidian as a reflective surface. Eventually, they started to produce more sophisticated mirrors made of copper, bronze, silver, gold and even lead. Mirrors like the contemporary ones did not come into being until the late Middle Ages. But at that time it was very difficult to make them and they were very expensive. It wasn't until the Renaissance, when the Florentines invented an easier way of making mirrors. They were more elaborated and were very clear. Moreover artists started to use them. Mirrors helped to emerge a new form of art: the self-portrait. The mirror makers were keeping the way of making them in a secret, moreover, their secrets were so precious, that who tried to sell their knowledge to foreign workshops were killed.
But it wasn’t like the contemporary mirror. They used polished obsidian as a reflective surface. Eventually, they started to produce more sophisticated mirrors made of copper, bronze, silver, gold and even lead. Mirrors like the contemporary ones did not come into being until the late Middle Ages. But at that time it was very difficult to make them and they were very expensive. It wasn't until the Renaissance, when the Florentines invented an easier way of making mirrors. They were more elaborated and were very clear. Moreover artists started to use them. Mirrors helped to emerge a new form of art: the self-portrait. The mirror makers were keeping the way of making them in a secret, moreover, their secrets were so precious, that who tried to sell their knowledge to foreign workshops were killed.
At this point, mirrors were still only affordable for the rich, but scientists had noticed some alternative uses for them in the meantime. As early as the 1660s, mathematicians noted that mirrors could potentially be used in telescopes.
The modern mirror is made by silvering, or spraying a thin layer of silver or aluminum onto the back of a sheet of glass. Mirrors can preserve the image that hit it, but they reflect the image in a reversed way. Imagine writing something on a sheet of paper in dark pen and then holding it up to a mirror. It looks backward.
I have found many interesting legends about mirrors on the web. They mirrors reflect our souls.
As the vampires do not have souls, they are not reflected in mirrors. Mirrors are covered out of respect for the dead during the Jewish mourning ritual of sitting shiva, but many people in the U.S., also in Armenia, cover their mirrors when someone dies. According to superstition, a mirror can trap a dying soul. A woman who gives birth and looks in a mirror too soon afterward will also see ghostly faces peek out from behind her reflection. What's more, rumor has it that if you go to a mirror on New Year's Eve with a candle in your hand and call out the name of a dead person in a loud voice, the power of the mirror will show you that person's face.
As the vampires do not have souls, they are not reflected in mirrors. Mirrors are covered out of respect for the dead during the Jewish mourning ritual of sitting shiva, but many people in the U.S., also in Armenia, cover their mirrors when someone dies. According to superstition, a mirror can trap a dying soul. A woman who gives birth and looks in a mirror too soon afterward will also see ghostly faces peek out from behind her reflection. What's more, rumor has it that if you go to a mirror on New Year's Eve with a candle in your hand and call out the name of a dead person in a loud voice, the power of the mirror will show you that person's face.
These are just rumors: don’t take them very close to your heart!
If you are interested in how the mirrors are made you can watch this video, that i have shared. I hope you will like it!
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