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Breaking a mirror • Most people think that shattering a mirror is definitely a portent of seven years of bad luck and this superstition formed itself long before the mirrors were known, when people believed that a reflection in a pool of water was really the soul or "other self" of a person. • After the invention of mirrors, breaking one and harming the reflection in it continued to mean bad luck to the other self because this other self would be injured if disturbed in any way. Ancient Romans, for example, believed that a mirror smashed meant seven years of violent upheaval or mischance and the number seven was chosen because they thought that life renewed itself in the course of every seven years and it would take a person that long to recover from any impairment.
Spilling salt • Many irrational beliefs are based on use of salt. Ancient people thought that salt was mystic or witchy and could perform good or evil because when they unraveled the ability of salt to preserve food, they believed it could protect them too. Spilling salt was believed to be a go rewarding from good spirits that evil was nearby. Since people thought that good spirits lived on the right side of the body and evil ones on the left, they used to sprinkle a pinch of salt over the left shoulder to satisfy evil spirits who were possibly intent on ruination
