Several cultures and people around the world have their fair share of interesting rites, beliefs, taboos and superstitions that guide their day-to-day activities. Some of these beliefs could be very oppressive of women.
The Bajju people in Kaduna state do not only have superstitious beliefs for women but those that guide men and children as well. The father and founder of the Bajju people is Baranzan, an ancestor believed to be of Nigerian and Cameroonian descent.
History has it that the Bajju people migrated from Zamfara to Bauchi, then Jos. They moved and settled in Dibiyi/Kurmin Bi, in the Zonkwa chiefdom of what is present Zangon Kataf Local Government of Kaduna State. Now they can be found in other LGAs in Kaduna State such as Jemaa and Kachia.
They speak Jju language and the land occupied by the Bajju is called Kajju. With an estimated 600, 000 native speakers, the Bajju, commonly referred to with the negative term ‘Kaje’, constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in Southern Kaduna.
The Bajju are particularly found in Zangon-Kataf, Jemaa and Kachia Local Government Areas of Kaduna State. They hold a lot of ancient superstitious beliefs highlighted below, though some have survived over time.
Let’s begin with that for women. The Bajju believe that women should not eat eggs as that would mean ‘eating’ their own children. Also, women are not to cook or carry out farm activities for 7 days following childbirth.
Hitting people, especially men, with brooms would be sweeping away all of his charms and power (including the power to impregnate a woman). It is also believed that pregnant women should not eat sugarcanes because it could make their babies grow too fat.
Superstitious beliefs for the men include the belief that if a man shaves his hair halfway, a spirit will come to finish the job and cause him to go mad.
However, the most interesting would be the belief that food prepared by menstruating women should not be eaten by men as they would be exposed to blindness or bad luck in hunting.
The children are not left out as there are also superstitious beliefs that concern them. First of all, children are not allowed to eat eggs. They are not to eat meat offered to them at other households, for fears that it may be enchanted.
Children were also not allowed to go out in the heat of the midday sun, for fear that they may accept food from a witch.
Other general taboos of the land include the belief that snakes should not be killed as it may be the spirit of a person sleeping or having a fever. Also, whistling in the house of a hunter could cause his charms to stop working.
It is simply a taboo to blow food to cool it. When a visitor comes to eat at a household, a person from the visited household must eat with the guest to prove the food is not poisoned.
