If you’re a Nigerian, superstitions are nothing new to you. You probably heard them a million times as a kid. You’re aware of the stories your grandparents liked to tell you. Those are the tales that have no foundation in truth but are intended to intimidate you into staying in line. And if you’re on social media, you’re already familiar with your village’s inhabitants and their prowess at keeping us all on our toes. Other than the principle of fear, Nigerian superstitions are not based on any other theory. We’re no longer terrified of them, but we still find it amusing to hear them.
Here are a few of them:
- Selling anything on credit first thing in the morning will bring you bad luck for the rest of the day. People generally assume that your first deed of the day will have an impact on the rest of your day. As a result, they’ve adapted it to the corporate world. If you must buy on credit from your vendor, do so in the afternoon or evening rather than first thing in the morning.
- A shattered mirror will bring the breaker 7 years of bad luck. This implies that if you let a mirror fall out of your hands, you’ll be cursed for not one, not two, but seven years!
- If you kill a gecko in your house, it will bring bad luck to everyone who lives there.
- The home where a gecko is killed will be destroyed. The Yoruba name the wall gecko ‘omo onile,’ which roughly translates to ‘house owner’s kid.’
- When you whistle at night, the devil will mimic your voice and use it to afflict you.
- If you blow air inside the sharpener, it will break.
- A bush infant will flog you if you scream at night.
- If you go near a man when you first notice your “menstruation,” you will get an instant pregnancy.
- You will get money if you unintentionally wear your garments inside out.
- An elephant is giving birth if it rains while the sun shines.
- If you sleep with your leg on the wall, you are a witch who has attended a meeting.
- If you place your hand in the rain, you will perish if thunder hits.
- If you share one egg with another person, you will have a half-child.
- If you clean your room late at night, you will be impoverished.
- You will see bad spirits if you wash your face with coconut water.
- If you eat a fish’s eyeball, you will become a dullard.
Many of the superstitions described above are still practiced in certain parts of Nigeria. Which of the following myths do you still believe today?
