The lies I grew up with. As a kid, they are a lot of things our parents told us, not even only our parents but people around us, our friends even our teachers. There were a lot of lies, myths, and superstitions that filled our brains and we carried it around believing it was true until we grow up.
Growing up to see that all of it was a lie is kinda heartbreaking, they are a lot of them I can’t even remember, but I’ll be sharing the few I remember. In my opinion, most of all these lies were to keep us from problems, but some aren’t.
Some of them are;
Pregnant women using pins to avoid evil spirits
When I was still little I usually wonder why pregnant women attach pins to their dresses (around their belly area), so I ask my parents they say it is to avoid evil spirits that roam around in the afternoon but my mom said she doesn’t use it because she has God to protect her.
I believe that at that moment because I see every pregnant woman and there do attach pin. But as time goes I realized that it is just a myth and that pins can’t prevent any evil spirits from affecting your pregnancy.
The funniest part is that since when I stopped believing that, I rarely see pregnant women attach pins to their dresses, maybe they are becoming civilized or I don’t just notice.
Lekeleke (Cattle Egret) give me white fingers.
Remembering this was funny, I look back and see how dumb I was to believe this. I could vividly remember how on seeing Cattle Egret, we all run following and shouting “Lekeleke gimme white finger.” Even when I am outside at a gathering and I see this bird, I also say it(I might not shout) but I always wish it gives me a white finger.
As time goes I outgrown it, everyone will surely outgrow it. Just so you know we call white patches on the nail white finger. But as I grew my curiosity piqued me and I browsed about it the white patches are caused by fungal infections or mineral deficiency. Crazy right?
Drinking coconut water will make you dull
Back then, I always love coconut water because it is sweet, any time my dad bought a coconut, my dad would pour the water away saying it is not good to drink it. Sometimes, I will quickly collect the water and drink it before my dad scolded me. Funny how coconut water is sold on the beach, I always laughed when I remember, because will the people who take coconut water on the beach turn dull? Hehe.
Coconut water has a lot of benefits, it benefits the heart and many more. Sun and rain How this is one of the biggest myths that took a long time to realize it was just a myth. I do believe that if the sun is shining and rain is falling then a lion is giving birth (to a cub). Everyone around me believed this, didn’t you?
But as a science student, I realized that it was just a myth that it is a meteorological phenomenon called a sun shower it happens when suspended drops are carried by the wind.
Ojuju (masquerade) Calabar will catch you.
Hehe. This was a really big myth for me, it usually plant fear in me. Whenever my mom sent me on an errand, especially in the evening or night, she say “Be fast ooo, or Ojuju will catch you.” Then I will run like crazy and come so quickly because I don’t want Ojuju Calabar to catch me.
There are many cases whereby Ojuju was used to scare the children but as time passed you automatically realized that I was just a myth. Sometimes they use Maami water to scare us too.
If you look in the mirror at night, you will see a witch.
There is a big mirror in the room, so anytime I wake up to pee I dare not look at the mirror. I was usually afraid, even when I knew it was a myth, I was still scared to look into the mirror at night.
Even movies made it worse, anytime someone in a movie (horror movie) looked at the mirror he ends up seeing something different, it took a long time for me to pick up the courage to look that the mirror at night but now I do.
There are other myths, I might have forgotten because it was a lot, looking back at the time I once believed them are so funny and unbelievable to me.
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𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈...
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