Image obtained from Pixabay

We all have these little superstitions that we believe in, although they might not seem totally reasonable such as not walking under ladders, black cats crossing your path or breaking mirrors being bad luck. These superstitions are the general ones known but I got curious about the one from where I'm from. I've never really thought about them, mainly because I'm mostly sceptical about superstitions but they are actually quite interesting.

Edo Superstitions

I'm from a state in Nigeria called Edo and we have some pretty crazy ones.

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1. The Crowing Cobra

Image obtained from Pixabay

There's a superstition that any crowing heard at night is done by cobras so as to lure prey into the words and that you must never follow any crows heard at night. I don't understand where this one even came from and I'm also not sure snakes even have the vocal capability to crow.

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2. Boiled Yams

Image obtained from Pixabay

It's believed that anytime you boil yams, people from the spirit realm also add their yams to your pot and that's why in some places before anybody take any yams from the pot, they invite the spirit to take their share of the yams first. They believe if this isn't done, people in the house get sick. Well, all I know is if the food in my pot doubles, I will probably thank God and then eat everything.

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3. The Snake Mantis

Image obtained from Pixabay

This superstition involves the belief that preying mantises are the ancestors of snakes. I don't know how this belief started but I'm quite sure it's false.

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4. Whistling and Spitting

Image obtained from Pixabay

This is the belief that whistling and spitting outside at night attracts spirits and is really bad. Mostly spitting outside is disgusting and whistling at night is very annoying.

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5. The Twin Effect

Image obtained from Pixabay

This one is just cute. This is the belief that the younger twin actually sent the twin born first to check out how the world is before they came into the world and that the younger one is born last but is actually older.

I hope you enjoyed these superstitions.