5 Childhood Myths In Nigeria

1. Guava seeds cause appendicitis:

The idea that guava seeds cause appendicitis is false. Appendicitis is primarily caused by infection or fecal obstruction of the appendix, and not directly from swallowing seeds. However, it is good to chew seeds properly, especially for fruits like guava, or pomegranates.

Undigested seeds of some fruits may cause a blockage in the appendix, but cases are very rare. I had friends in primary school who never ate guava for the fear of appendicitis.

2. Large snakes keep diamonds:

This is another myth we believed when growing up. Snakes, whether large or small do not keep diamonds. There is no relationship between flesh, bone and blood and diamonds which are minerals.

Funny enough, some adults still believe this crap till date. If you believe that diamonds are found in snakes, you should also believe that crude oil is found in monkeys.

3. Heaven is in the skies and hell is underground:

I do not want this post to be a religious debate so I will not delve into the existence of heaven and hell, but the mindset that heaven is located in the skies, while hell lies under our feet is as foolish as foolishness. These are abstract things that are not concrete. They are only in your mind subconsciously.

4. Witches and wizards fart on transformers to cause power outage:

Whenever transformers exploded, they blamed old men and women in the area of suspected witchcraft. This was common in Old Bendel State (now Edo and Delta States). The truth is that majority of those transformers were old and fit to be discarded, but due to poor governance, corruption and lack of accountability, they were still put to use, and they were serving beyond their capacity. Area believe say nah winch mess for transformer, so transformer blow!

5. Taking Coke and mango is harmful:

This is another myth and a stupid idea we believed as kids. There is no scientific fact to that, and nobody has been found to be harmed after taking Coke and mango. There is no scientific evidence that supports the claim. It is just a myth.

NAN