CULTURE MADE ME DO IT

That is how we have always done it…. It is our culture… These and more are the reasons we give for a lot of things we do everyday, things that defy reason, common sense and logic. We all do it, from Primary School Leavers to PhD holders, our culture has a firm grip on us.

It is high time we questioned a lot of the things we do in the name of ‘Culture’, it is high time we made judicious use of our brains to think and criticize a lot of the things we grew up doing, things that have become our norm, especially when they threaten to destroy or demean us.

It is not wrong to question things…no, its not disrespectful…, no its not sacrilegious…no, its not challenging the ‘gods of the land’…no, you will not have an ant infestation…no, I don’t really think Amadioha cares if you whistle at night and neither will Sango strike you with thunder if you decide to question why your people do certain things. In fact, you owe it to your future generation to question norms and practices.
Questioning things is proof that we are thinking beings and as such, we must know why we do certain things, knowing that its too lazy to say ‘Its our culture…we have always done it that way’…way too lazy. Some of the things we do that make no sense even in an alternate universe includes…

1. Cutting baby’s hair just because she is one year old. Why, Oh Why do we do this? A friend of mine came by the other day, her baby had beautiful, luscious locks and I was so awed and admired it, but was taken aback when she said she was cutting it next week. I asked why and she said ‘she will be one next week, so she needs her first hair cut’. I was so mad and asked if there was any spiritual or cultural undertone to first hair cuts and surprisingly, she had never thought to ask. Brothers and sisters, there is none. Not a one. The hair is cut when growth is unequal or scanty, and no matter what happens, that first hair will shed as the child grows. Please stop with the cutting and making babies looklike little criminals.
2. Why do we wear safety pins on our clothes when going to the market, village or public gatherings? Does it mean that metal repels evil? Sir, if the Blood of Jesus or the deity you worship cannot save you, change religion. Leave those pins alone.
3. We buy crude oil and keep in our houses to ward off evil spirits and spells…yes, you heard it, crude oil (I once saw this in a professor’s house). This culture thing has a very strong hold that even education is yet to break…
4. Why do you go for deliverance when you eat in your dream? We always believe that anything done in the dream is either a warning or manifestation of something about to happen or already happening. One quick question though…did you eat before going to bed? Just asking.
5. Why do we place pieces of cloth on our heads to stop hiccups? Guys, I have seen a doctor do this. Strange enough, we so believe in this that we take it for granted that it will stop…and it does! But it not scientific… I have the cure for hiccups…water!!!
6. Why do we stop children from eating meat and eggs? Because they will steal (duh really?). I still wonder who drew the correlation between eggs and stealing…they disenfranchised generations of Nigerian children and as educated as we are, some of us still perpetuate that myth.
7. Childbirth and baby care has a thousand and one practices all mired in folklore, myths, legends and old wives tales. Giving a baby bitter kola for colic, scent leaf juice for colic, rubbing toothpaste on the umbilical chord, mixing chalk and sundry items for soft skull or baby’s soft fontanelle, squeezing and ‘moulding’ baby’s head, nose, vagina and waist (Hian…what a wawu).
   Pregnant and nurse mothers are not left out in the culture fest! Ladies, have you forgotten the scalding hot water you sat on after your delivery… Yes, after the episiotomy and other cuts? (Yikes!) Who has forgotten the very hot towels used for your vaginas and stomachs? What of the concoctions we all had to drink just to expel all the ‘bad blood’ and after birth? Can I have a witness to the series of repeated visits to the hospital after those stitches tore because of the heat from the hot water and salt?
   This list is not by any means exhaustive. There are countless things we still do in the name of culture, that goes a long way in limiting us, diminishing us and taking us backwards. Culture is made for man, not man for culture, so it is dynamic, which is why we celebrate twins today and not kill them.
   What are the things done in your locality in the name of culture and how have you flipped the script? We would like to know!
   PS. I have participated in some of these. But unlike some of you, I have received sense!!!
   Andee