About National Look Alike Day
Today, we’re seeing double. or at least your doppelgänger. Similar to Twin Day, National Look Alike Day lets you dress up like a friend or a celebrity someone swears you look just like.
To celebrate, grab your best friend and aim for “The Parent Trap” level of twinness when picking out a hairdo, outfit and accessories.
Could you successfully switch places? Today, ask a friend which celebrity they think you look the most like or if they’ve seen your doppelganger in town.
This national holiday is aligning with one of the most popular trends on TikTok, which involves showcasing who your celebrity doppelganger is. Users of the app use a filter that shapeshifts them into a photo of their choice, merging themselves onto the chosen celebrity that they have been told or think they look like.
Even if you don’t have TikTok to participate in the fun and entertaining trend, you could always take doppelganger quizzes on websites such as BuzzFeed! Or, you never know who you’ll run into at school or out in public. It just may be your very own look-alike!
The darker side of Doppelgängers
Doppelgänger is a German word that means "double-walker." According to ancient legend, a doppelgänger isn't just someone who resembles you or a twin with their own identity — it is a literal duplicate of you. Many mystics believe that doppelgängers are supernatural creatures, and their appearance in someone's life is almost never a good thing.
The most widely known myth about doppelgängers is that they are an omen of death. According to both English and German folklore, seeing your doppelgänger often means that death will soon follow — even more so if you see them more than once. This idea is backed up by the many stories throughout time that have told tales where someone died shortly after seeing their doppelgänger multiple times.
Other ancient myths say that a doppelgänger is essentially a ghostly double of you who lived before you. It comes from Norse mythology, and the doppelgänger is there called a "vardøger." According to Ancient Pages, the stories of vardøger describe incidents that are basically déjà vu in reverse "where a spirit with the subject's footsteps, voice, scent, or appearance and overall demeanor precedes them in a location or activity, resulting in witnesses believing they've seen or heard the actual person before the person physically arrives."
According to ancient Egyptian myths, the doppelgänger is basically the same as a "ka." A "ka" is thought of as a spiritual double born in everyone. When someone dies, their spiritual double lives on as long as they have somewhere to live, usually that person's body. This is why Egyptians mummified their dead — if they kept the body from decomposing, that meant the spiritual double had somewhere to live. But if the body decayed, the spiritual double would die, and the deceased would lose their chance at eternal life.
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