SAY WHAT? See The Culture Where If A Woman Whistles, She Is Considered A Prostitute - See For Yourself!

Rwandan English: There are certain words that have been appropriated here to have different meanings or different weights. For some reason, they all start with s:

– Serious: Used very commonly here to mean a person who is respectable, trustworthy, and reliable. It has a lot of weight and is a very serious word. One of the gravest insults to someone is calling them “not serious.”

– Stubborn: This essentially means the opposite of serious; someone who is not respectable or reliable.

– Smart: Used as as compliment to mean that you are dressed very well. It took some adjusting to get used to hearing “Helaina, you are smart today!”

– Somehow: Appropriated to mean “somewhat.” Example: “I am somehow hungry.”

– Saloon: Appropriated to mean “salon” as in “hair salon.” The area where I live, Nyamirambo, is full of saloons.

– Sambusa: Used to mean what I know of as a “samosa.” The term is also used in Ethiopia and Somalia.

On someone’s birthday, friends pour a bottle of water over his or her head as they sing “happy birthday” in Kinyarwanda. I also learned that one the hard way.

A superstition I have heard students tell me is that people with small handwriting are considered lazy and selfish, while those with big handwriting are considered generous and courageous.

If you drop things and have bouts of clumsiness, Rwandans’ often instinctive response is to say “you need a husband/you need a wife.”

If a Rwandan lends something to a friend and s/he loses it, it is considered a taboo to ask the friend to replace it or pay for it. Rwandans just forget about the lost thing and move on.

If a bird poops on your head, it means you will get rich.

If you see a cat in the morning, your day will be bad.

If you say the word “needle” (“urushinge”) before breakfast, you will have a bad day.

If someone causes you to have an accident, either on purpose or by mistake, Rwandans believe that saying that person’s name in the morning is bad luck and, similar to the needle issue above, will cause you to have a bad day. For example, one night last week I was walking with some friends and I turned my head to answer my friend Amani’s question. As I did so, I didn’t see a shallow gutter (luckily empty) in front of me and fell down, cutting my toe.

A Rwandan friend told me that I should not say Amani’s name in the morning. Instead of the saying the unlucky friend’s name, Rwandans say “umutavugwa,” which means something like “speak badly” (or as I like to think of it, “he-who-shall-not-be-named”).

When Rwandans wish you good night, they say “Sleep in a hard place.” The reasoning for this is that if you sleep in a soft place you will be so comfortable that you’ll never wake up.

When someone is at home sick, it is expected that friends, family members, and even coworkers will come to pay him or her a visit. (This is markedly different from the general American mentality of “leave me ALONE to sleep, relax, wallow, and clean up after my own bodily functions.”)

Many Rwandans believe very seriously in spirits and curses performed by traditional healers/sorcerers. Several friends have told me stories of people they know who have been cursed to become crazy after breaking up with a resentful boyfriend or girlfriend. In particular, the town of Kibungo in southeastern Rwanda is considered to be the hub of dark magic where many traditional healers/sorcerers reside.

If a woman sews at night or in the dark, people will discourage her by saying that she is sewing her parents’ eyes shut. This is most likely to prevent women from straining their eyes by sewing under weak light.

Whistling at night is considered a taboo because Rwandans say it summons snakes. It is also a taboo for a woman to whistle any time of the day, because it means she is a prostitute. (I made the mistake of whistling at night…)

When you have the hiccups, Rwandans say that someone is talking about you.

When you have a twitch on your eye or face, people say it is a good omen.

Children up to age 10 were required to take a nap every afternoon after eating lunch and before returning to school. Even some adults still have this habit.