LED reverse polairty?

In one particular saber I have a 12mm illuminated switch as the main. It worked fine for years, then one day it started to flicker when it should have been on solid. Eventually it stopped lighting up at all. I took the saber apart and the wiring still looked good. After some experimenting, I tested with my multi-meter and discovered that the LED would turn on if I reversed the polarity. If I put negative to the "+" pin and positive to the "-" pin, suddenly it started working again. This is the opposite of how it was installed so many years prior. So, I swapped the wires and put it back together. It's working fine now, but that's very strange to me. Has this ever happened to anyone? The switch contacts still work perfectly and never showed any problems.

I’ve never heard of that happen before. In some LEDs the polarity matters, and others it may not, it all depends on the manufacturer.

All LEDs only illuminate in one direction but some switches might have circuitry to work in either direction I wouldn't expect that in a 12mm switch, since there is barely enough room for the LED and a tiny resistor (I know too well since I started tearing them apart to make pixel switches.) It is possible it is actually wired with an LED in each direction. (even if it just looks like a single LED) In either direction the flow would go along the path of least resistance.