Taboos are major components of the existence of many African cultures put in place to guard against some behavioural patterns believed to be harmful to people.
Reflecting in almost all their ways of life; from marriage to religion, eating habits, day to day living experiences, the earlier generations were raised with certain beliefs which they unquestionably conformed to. Unfortunately, in recent times, people’s attitude to taboos, is changing.
Perhaps the reason for this is because many of these taboos have no scientific proof, therefore making it hard for the present genertion to take them seriously in this age, while others have no reasonable logical backings. Also, with globalisation and the acceptance of foreign religions such as Islam and Christianity, many people have questioned the effects and relevance of these taboos to their faith.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, many youths exhibited high levels of ignorance to existing taboos, while scholars and clerics reacted to this, explaining the reasons for this development.
According to Dr Akin Bello, a former chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Oyo State Chapter, taboos are social beliefs that the past society used in preventing people from doing something or encouraging them in the course of shaping younger ones.
“Elderly people, due to past experiences, tend to mould and direct younger people through the introduction of taboos. They are a compendium of previous experiences over the years and what constitute these taboos vary across different homes,” he said.
While some taboos are meant to avert problems and shape how people behave, others are practically unexplainable and to an average youth of this time, it is beyond what they would believe without being proven.
The lists of taboos across cultures are unending. Among the Yoruba, it is a taboo to say that a person is heavy, as only the dead is considered to be. It is also a taboo to ask a petty trader for a needle in the morning, hence that would bring her bad luck as nobody would patronise her all day.
For many groups among the Yorubas, it is wrong for anyone to sit at an entrance or on a mortar when it is raining, if such person doesn’t want to be struck dead by lightning. Yorubas do not say that there is no salt at home; rather they say that there is no sea. The Yorubas also consider it a taboo to ask a woman for the number of children she has.
Yorubas frown upon a pregnant woman walking the streets in the sunny afternoon, as the belief is that evil spirits parade the streets at this time and can invade their wombs. If she must, she must tie a stone or pin to her clothes, to ward away the evil ones.
Other taboos among the Yoruba include: one has to put money in a mortar to transport it, or else, the vehicle won’t move; a man must not have sex with another man’s pregnant wife who is almost due, or else such man would be wretched. These taboos go on and many youths wonder how these came to be.
Momodu Daniel is a student from Agbede, Estako-West, Edo State and according to him, he is indifferent to these taboos.
“According to what I was made to believe, there is a particular tribe in Estako-West called Inene, where the people of the tribe at some point had their fingers and toes chopped off. And since then, it has become a taboo for people of Agbede to have anything in common with them, because it is believed that relating with them could be contagious.
“I believe this is as a result of illiteracy which was high among the Agbedes and it is also so superstitious and personally, I’m indifferent to such beliefs,” he said.
A female Igbo youth corps member who preferred anonymity, said it remains a taboo in her tribe for anyone to pluck cherries from the tree.
“Sincerely, these things are just superstitious. I don’t even know why, but who cares?” she said.
An indigene of Itsekiri, Edema-sillo Jolomi, said one of the major taboos of her tribe was for any man to sleep with an elderly woman.
Ehim Starry of Esan, Edo State, a lady in her mid 20s, said her tribe is also governed by various taboos.
“It is a taboo for a woman to cook late at night for her husband; a wife must not cheat on her husband and also among my people, a married woman must not allow anyone to use her wrapper once she is married. If that happens, then the wife will run mad.
“Personally, I don’t believe in these things. It is whatever you believe in that you end up becoming the victim of. My mother cooks late at night for my father and nothing happens,” she said.
“I’ve heard people say that it is a taboo for a pregnant woman to eat soup from the cooking pot, so that her child’s buttocks will not be black or that you should not eat while standing and the likes. I’ve also heard of incest taboos. But I think that although some of these taboos don’t sound reasonable, they still serve as a check to many social problems. For instance, the issue of people sleeping with their family members wouldn’t have become more widespread if people believed they would drop dead immediately they do it. So I think taboos also have their advantages,”
Adebowale John, a student, said.
In the same vein, Professor Akinshola Olowu, Coordinator, Ife Centre for Psychological Studies, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune also recounted many of the social problems in the society to the fading social beliefs.
“In the olden days, even before the laws, the African settings were managed by making taboos on some issues. There were some activities that must not be performed and there were rules guiding that. But today, the taboos don’t have the grip as they used to because the present generation does not believe in them. They believe they can do a lot of things and get away with it.
“Taboos then were meant to guide and protect people, for instance there was the incest taboo and these taboos gave them sanity. Unfortunately, now we have insanity. People in place of positions can afford to do anything with what belongs to the majority without any fear. People then were guided by taboos that you do not damage the society that produced you, but this society doesn’t care anymore,” Professor Olowu lamented.
According to Mrs C.O. Thorpe in her book titled: Awon eewo ile Yoruba, which was published in 1967, there are seven reasons for the growth of taboos in Yorubaland. They are to avoid accidents; have respect for religion; respect elders; obey rules of cleanliness; teach moral values; guard against being wasteful and explain things that are difficult to understand.
Dr Foluke Akinshola of the Department of Psychology, University of Lagos (UNILAG), gave reasons for youths’ attitudes to such beliefs.
“The major thing responsible for this gap is civilisation. There is advancement in technology and a change in the belief system. Taboos were primarily tied to traditional belief systems. For instance telling a pregnant woman not to walk in the dark, because she would give birth to a deformed human being is tied to a belief.
“And because the people then were not exposed to civilisation, these taboos thrived. Once you believe in these things, they act on your unconscious mind so that when you do what you are not supposed to do, even when nothing happens, your subconscious mind begins to put things together. And also people don’t cherish these taboos anymore because a lot of taboos are unfounded; they cannot be supported scientifically and people want to believe in things that can be scientifically proven and that is what has created the gap,” she said.
“If I need a needle in the morning, I will ask for it from whoever I think has it, that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t have sales that day. And as long as
I have fuel in my car and the engine is good, the car would move whether I put money in a mortar or not. In fact, I have tried it before,” Mr Olashina Adeola, a salesman said.
A teacher who does not want her name in print said, “When I got married, I was told that as a nursing mother in the family, we are not supposed to eat anything that has pepper or salt for seven days. I never questioned anyone, but whenever I was alone, I would eat it, and nothing has happened to me,” she said.
Dr Bello explained that people are much more attuned to the Western way of thinking, and as such would question some beliefs.
“I remember that as a child I was raised to belief that okra is a taboo. This is because they believed that in the past some people had eaten it and died and having reoccurred on several occasions, it was decided that it is not good. But I’m always very skeptical. I eat it once in a while out of curiosity.
“In trying to sell it to my children, I let them know that it is a choice, because people are now educated and much more attuned to the Western world. So it is a natural instinct of this generation to ask why. In my days, I wouldn’t ask my father why I shouldn’t do this or that. So, taboos then were to mould people and impart the accumulated experience of the past,” he said.
Religion is also a major threat to the continuous believe in taboos.
According to Pastor Adeniyi Bambo, the Christian faith does not allow for beliefs in anything contrary to it.
“We are a new creation and so shouldn’t be tied to superstitious traditional beliefs. And besides, many of these taboos cannot fit into the present society,” he said.
A Muslim cleric, who only identified himself as Alhjai Bello, said: “In my family, back in those days, it was a taboo for nursing mothers to eat anything with salt in it, but as we grew up things like that were cancelled.
“As a Muslim, it is wrong to observe taboos,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment