Nigerians are indubitably a set of superstitious people. Older Nigerians are probably worse because they usually choose to give their own explanations to occurrences which science is yet to explain.
Something may probably occur due to a coincidence or just plain fate, but according to some Nigerians, there has to be a spiritual force behind it. However, some parents have revealed that they only say some of these things to children in order to keep them in-check or get them to refrain some distasteful habits.
Let us look at some of the funniest superstitious beliefs we still believe as adults.
Crossing over someone
This superstition cuts across almost all tribes in Nigeria. No matter the part of the country I find myself, I always meet one or two people who live by this superstitious belief. Okay, it’s goes like thus; If someone crosses over you, you will give birth to a child like them. Therefore, this leads to a person calling back at the “crosser” to come back and “uncross” especially if they dislike the “crosser”. This particular superstition has variations. Another version of it says that the person that is crossed stops growing or looses the part of the body where the suspect crossed over.
Getting hit by a broom
Say you’re sweeping a room in a typical Nigerian household and the broom accidentally touches someone’s fee; the reaction is typically one of discontent and disapproval. If this happens to a young girl, you may get a response like; ‘If I no see husband, na you I go marry you”, which means that (They might lose their marriage good fortune). The superstition comes with the idea that a person should kiss their chance of ever getting any good luck goodbye.
Whistling while raining
Growing up, whistling generally was NO NO in my household. Talk less of when it rained. My mother and other elders in the house would often tell us we’d die on the spot. It wasn’t till I was 13 I summoned the courage to whistle the third verse of “Hot line” during a heavy downpour. I didn’t die…However, it wasn’t till many years later I discovered that my mother only hated the sound of whistling.
