Some beliefs, stereotypes, and superstitions we had from childhood stay with us until adulthood, and even when we come to know that most of those beliefs were lies, they just can’t easily leave our hearts.
While scrolling through Facebook on Friday evening, I came across a post of the tomb to be used to bury a very renowned man of God in Nigeria, who is currently having a state burial ceremony. The post stated that the tomb looked too beautiful, and immediately I read that, I didn’t realize when I let out a loud “God forbid!” and began to reject it instantly.
People(reading this) who know this belief and superstition already understand what’s wrong, but if you’re yet to grasp it, let me explain.
Way back when we were growing up, we were told that whenever you say with your mouth or imagine in your mind that a tomb or casket is beautiful, it means death will come your way very soon.
Yeah, this wasn’t just a belief told to scare us, but it felt practically real because, oftentimes, I heard my dad, after they were done with a burial ceremony, rating the beauty of the casket used. At the end, everyone around, including him, would spit and say “God forbid” as a way of rejecting the death associated with caskets, whether beautiful or ugly.
So when I saw the post on Facebook, I found it very difficult to imagine the mindset the poster had in making that statement. Even at this adult age, I can’t dare to describe, with my mouth, how beautiful a casket or tomb is. In fact, at the mere thought of it, I would start praying a “merciful” prayer, asking God to have mercy on me for even thinking about the beauty of a casket or a tomb.
After drafting this, I paused and started thinking of a photo to use and every thought landed on using a casket photo. But two things came to my mind;
- It's gonna scare people and maybe appear as NSFW
- It's gonna make the superstitious people in line with this, to think it further and probably go into three days prayer and fasting to remove the thought of death in their mind.
And look at me, I couldn't use a casket photo because it's scary. Lol
Thanks for reading.