Haitian superstitions

I discussed superstitions on my blog once many moons ago–I find the history of how different ones came about fascinating. All cultures and countries have them; my motherland is no exception. Some are hilarious and appear random. Some are probably the result of some idiot’s action-gone-awry (#11) Some had purpose: clearly devised to protect overworked, under-cared-for slaves and maids (see numbers 2 and 4, maybe 5). Some were undoubtedly born of a harsh time when untimely death was an everyday occurrence (#7). However outdated superstitions seem, they are an indelible part of a culture’s psyche and personality; that is to say whether tragic, silly, or humorous, all of these listed below are quintessentially Haitian in spirit. And if you’ve spent any time on that one-of-a-kind island, you know that tragedy, silliness and humor all abound.

A Dozen Superstitions Many Haitians Grew Up Hearing About

1.) Don’t walk around with only one shoe on; doing so will bring about your mother’s death.
2.) The floor mustn’t be swept at night; if done so, the mother of the head of household will die.
3.) Don’t crawl on your knees or walk on your knees, or your mother will die.
4.) Don’t eat the top of a watermelon or a grapefruit; if done, the mother of the head of household will die.
5.) Don’t sweep at a person’s feet; the person whose feet get brushed by the broom won’t get married.
6.) Don’t point at a rainbow–doing so will bring you much bad luck.
7.) Don’t attend your child’s funeral, or you’ll bury more of your children.
8.) Don’t gift someone a handkerchief or knife–the hankie will make him cry, and the knife will cause some misfortune. If someone gives you one of these things, then you have to give him/her money to symbolically turn the gift into a voluntary purchase.
9.) When you cook cornmeal or rice, expand your cheeks with air so that the food in the pot will also increase and multiply.
10.) Don’t put things down with your left hand, or you’ll forget where you put it.
11.) Don’t cut your nails on Fridays, or you’ll cut skin under the nails too.
12.) Don’t point with your index finger at a fruit-bearing tree; the fruit you’re pointing at will be a good-for-nothing, bad fruit. I actually did this quite innocently as an adult some years back–I pointed at my aunt’s lychee tree while asking her a question about it, and she actually slapped my arm and said, ‘What are you doing?!?

Any superstitions you’re familiar with? Care to speculate on the origins of some above? Please share!

My sister--a young birthday celebrated in Haiti. Hope that knife wasn't a gift!

13 Comments

  • Elena

    January 11, 2011

    #5 is a popular Cuban one also… My mother loved to warn me about that one.

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      January 11, 2011

      I’m thinking it was maybe a way for whoever’s sweeping
      the floor to get some alone time while she works? Lol, I think that one’s on a few
      islands in the Caribbean!

      Reply
  • Olive

    January 13, 2011

    wow…moms have it pretty hard in the superstitions department…yet another reason for me not to have kids…those littler buggers will try to off me in any of those ways!

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      January 13, 2011

      LMAO Olive… yeah, it’s always the mother suffering–hardly ever the person actually doing the crap!

      Reply
  • Gigi

    January 28, 2011

    Just reading your blogs that missed since the baby has been born.. i found myself lmao at number 3, my mom has always screamed at jorgie for walking on his knees and when i ask her why she had such a fit, she would never tell me why or avoid the fact that I asked…LMAO And conincidentally I gave my MIL a set of stainless steel fancy knives she was asking for a coupld years back as a present and my mom and sister freaked and asked if i had given her a penny…to this day my mother and sister have not forgiven me for not providing her with the monitary portion of her gift. lol

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      January 28, 2011

      LMAO Gigi, that’s hilarious! What always cracks me up about it too is how mad they’ll get about it and–as you mention– they won’t even tell you why! Like when I pointed to my aunt’s fruit tree, she was seriously mad at me, and I was like, “Um, what did I do??” lol

      Reply
  • Erin

    January 30, 2011

    These were so interesting, especially the one about fruit bearing trees. I read about giving someone a knife this summer when I was considering buying my friends a knife set for their wedding. I thought it was kind of neat to put a penny in there and have them “buy” the knife from me to get around the superstition. I figured they would be too busy to do this and I didn’t want to chance it, I like them too much!

    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      January 30, 2011

      Erin, I think it’s funny how we laugh about the superstitions but on the whole keep them up! I don’t mind however–I’m a lover of history and in ever-changing times, when I keep certain superstitions alive, I feel like I’m paying tiny homage to the dead and gone, and to their ways of thinking.

      Reply
  • sherly

    September 28, 2011

    don’t sleep with your barbie/teddy bear at night or esle it will beat you while you sleep

    Reply
    • sunnyglobaldiva

      September 28, 2011

      Sherly, that is hilarious! LOL =) Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
    • Regina

      March 19, 2012

      [I remember for #6 my mother told me when she was young she pointed at a rainbow and her mother smacked her hand down and scolded her. but never told her why. She also told me that she was told me that rainbows in the sky are snakes O.O…Also for #11 I heard from dream interpreter books about that also said; “Do not let your left hand knows what your right hand is doing”.] There’s a few I had heard from my mother when I was young. It scared me lol. 1) She told me that when she was little she saw two small flags dancing on the ground and when she pointed at them her mother I think smacked her hand down and told her to be quiet or not say anything. 2) Also around that same time she was small she saw a man floating over a roof top of a house and pointed at him her mom also scolded her and told her to be quiet. 3) There’s a time that she told me when I was in elementary that if I ever see two people wearing red and black standing far apart don’t walk in between them. My mother saw this and she walked on the side and I’m not sure if I remember but I think she might have said something happened to someone or her father who walked in between them and got his/her soul taken away. 4) Another one I heard from her was that “vampires” do exists. Now this awakened me a few years later when I remembered it. This is also vague I can’t remember much but remembering her telling me that a vampire came in her house and didn’t suck her or her family’s blood because her mother gave the family something really bitter to drink so that vampires can never suck her blood. Till this day we’re both thinking that’s maybe why mosquitoes don’t suck her blood.I would like to know what you all think! XD

      I might have pointed at a rainbow before…hmmm o.O

      Reply
  • Saeah

    December 6, 2011

    That is so hilarious lmao…LOL 🙂

    Reply
  • Rick

    December 28, 2012

    Why do Haitian cooks remove the vein/ligament from end of chicked drumstick ?

    Reply

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