Superstitions and Africa as a continent are like synonyms. Many things which were ancient beliefs are still kept alive by Africans.
Many beliefs that civilization Christianity and Islam should have taken away from us are still being preserved.
Sometimes when you hear about many of these beliefs, you wonder where they got their foundations from.
Unfortunately, they are passed from one generation to another and this keep them alive and ensure they remain relevant even among the so called 'learned'.
As Africans, we believe in demons, even though some us don't know what demons look like (if they have form)or what it means to be regarded as demon.
Generally, they are believed to roam about the street during the sunny hours of the day and darkest hours of the night.
It is believed that they walk or roam about around 1-3pm and 1-3am in the day and night respectively.
This belief serves as the foundation on what the idea of safety pin is grounded.
The belief is that safety pin is a demon repellent. The Africans believe that a pregnant woman has no business walking about during the sunny hours of the day.
They are advised to stay indoor during these hours. If they must go out, then they are to attach safety pin to their cloths so as to repel demons from entering their stomach.
The idea is that, demons are spirits and as such they need a house to stay. Pregnancy provides them the best place to hide and as such, they 'replace' the baby inside.
How this replacement occur is not adequately explained but strongly believed in by the people.
So if you see 10 pregnant women on the street, chances are that 4 of them have safety pin attached to their wrappers/skirts.
While we may have less use of safety pins in urban area like Lagos, same cannot be said about rural areas which are still keeping these traditions and beliefs alive.
I don't know why pin is believed to have any power at all but the only logical answer to why they use pin is because it is iron and there is a god of iron among the African gods.
Whether these pins have actually repelled these demons can't be ascertain except there are cases where those who didn't use them give birth to demon-like children.
Whichever ways you look at it, you will agree with me that it is superstition. Many people don't even use it today and you can't say they have demons in their homes.
Have you head of this in your community? Do you believe in it? Did you use pin when you were pregnant or know someone who did?
Drop comments below. Thanks for your time.
