Superstition Busters

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African superstitions originate from a mixture of ancient African religion.

In our technologically savvy and fast paced lifestyles, many of these fables or rather superstitions are regarded as foolish wife’s tales. But come to think of it, superstitions have always been part and parcel of our legitimate belief system during dark ages which unfortunately was passed around for ages and taught to us when we were young and impressionable.

Superstitions can be traced back to several centuries ago when our ancestors tried to explain the mysterious occurrence of events given the limited scientific knowledge that existed. Most of these superstition are proponents of fear.

Although many typically won’t admit they are superstitious. There are many superstitions peculiar to Nigerians because of how deeply ingrained they are in our culture.

Here is a list of 15 superstitions chosen based on how ridiculous, widespread and comical they are: If you found yourself still afraid of these superstitions or any other related, you already know where you stand.

Enough Chitty chatter………

1. Hitting your left leg on a stone is seen as an evil omen or warning to turn back fromwhereever the person might be going.

 This omen is taken seriously and the journey is usually forfeited for the future. Failure to heed the warning could lead to possibly loss of life.

(How ridiculous could that be, ok bye)

2. Sunshine and Raining at the same time means the Lioness has just given birth.

 (I laughed in Pidgin at this though, I mean Lions are now in charge of cosmic interference?)

 I believed this saying must have originated from someone who had no explanation for changes in weather pattern and is proud to admit so. But instead try to confuse himself and ultimately others

3. It is not a good idea to whistle at night.

 There is this belief that such whistling attracts snakes to the whistler.

(I think I should try this today armed with a big stick and machete just in case Lol. I bet such snake will receive sense not to show up when it saw how armed I am)

I am sure this superstitious saying must have originated from a typical African parents to shut up their children exuberance and mischiefs at night so as not to disturb neighbors

4. Don’t allow people to crossover your hand or leg, else you will give birth to a child with one hand or leg.

Whoever this originated from must have been on a low end cheap drug or something. How does crossing over of legs affect the fetus in the womb?

I had no idea why the intent of this superstitious saying, maybe one of you reader can help me out

5. Owls hooting on a rooftop or on a nearby tree is a bad omen as it is believed that someone in that house will soon die.

I don’t know how true is this but sincerely I don’t believe it. Are owls now messenger of death just because of their seemingly mythical inclination or something.

6. If your hands are itching without reason, it is believed that some kind of fortune is about to come your way.

My brother and sister, you are just on your own (OYO) if you believe this. You had better go get yourself checked for virus infection or something related, lol)

7.Eating in the dark is forbidden. It is believed that such act could give room to the dead to eat with you and this could lead to your death or grave ailments.

If this is true, many of us who devours huge wraps of popcorns and soda in theatre when we go see a movie ought to be dead now

8. If you spit on the floor and someone steps on it you will have sore throat.

How ridiculous can it get? Sore throat and spitting on the floor has no correlation whatsoever.

I bet this must have origination from parents who wants their children to imbibe hygienic habits

9. Don’t bend over and look through your legs in public, you may see witches.

To be sincere, this superstitious saying could be true especially during the times when witches and wizards hold sway in the different African communities.

But then it sound ridiculous though

10. Hitting a man with a broom would make him impotent.

It is believed that if a man is hit with a broom he becomes impotent until he retaliates by hitting the person back with a broom seven times.

11. Don’t drink coconut water is dangerous, it makes one a Dullard.

I ought to have become a grandmaster dullard by now judging by the number of coconut water I have drank, lol

12. Don’t look at the mirror at night, a ghost is all you will see.

Stubborn and curious me, I actually did look into the mirror at night one time to find out the type of cloth the ghost will be putting on

13. 13. If your ear is ringing someone is talking about you

Lol, Methinks that could be a biological reminder that your ears need to be clean. What better explanation?

14. Whenever lose your tooth, pick some stones according to the number of your age and together with the tooth cast them over the roof of your house.

Most of all are actually guilty of this even though we somehow know it does make sense doing it. We still went ahead to do it anyway and sometimes even encourage young ones around us to do same.

15. Animals know when you are pregnant

This superstition is somewhat true. Some scientists believe that a dog’s keen sense of smell allows it to notice a hormonal difference in a woman when she’s pregnant. This phenomena is not completely explainable, but does happen.

But if we look closely at some of these superstitions, a theme that run through them all is – FEAR.

Most of these African proverbs and superstitious beliefs are created to instill fear and respect for the unknown dark voodoo power and witches. Some of us that have an extremely imaginative mind could feel our heartbeat almost jumping out of our chest with just a mention of one of those beliefs.

God has not given us the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of Love, Power and a Sound Mind.

Also bible scholars have made us to understand that the words Do Not Fear, Fear Not appeared 365 times in the bible which invariably means God is telling us not to be afraid every single day of our life!

You are free to let us know about the superstitious belief that exists on your part of the globe, we are more eager to hear and learn from you.

Every Blessings,

Immanuel.

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