I am not one to travel a lot, but in the few places I have visited, I have come to understand that people are different in many ways than we can ever imagine.
What was that one cultural shock you had which you still can’t wrap your head around. Was it bad or it was just shocking to you as it came off as odd and new to you? Share with us.
I have had not one but many cultural shocks, and every time I experience them, I just wish I could do something about them. Some of these cultural shocks are indeed “shocking”. Worthy of note is the one I had recently.
So I visited a friend in another city, and on one of those days, my friend decided to cut her long hair, and I followed her to a barbing saloon. We got to the first saloon and the barber refused to cut my friend’s hair. We moved to the next and the next but all the barbers refused to cut my friend’s hair.
Can you guys guess why? Hold on I’ll tell you. They all refused to cut her hair because they didn’t have any male consent. This means they needed either her husband, boyfriend, brother, or any man in her family to give their consent before her long hair could be cut. To say I was shocked upon hearing this is an understatement.
At first, I laughed at the whole situation because it didn’t make sense that you could deprive a woman of that age the right to cut her hair just because no man instructed you to do so; imagine the impetus of those barbers.
Just like every profession has a union, all the barbers said the same thing, and that was when we knew it was more serious than we thought.
Even though I found this sort of practice barbaric there was no way I could aptly school these men because they weren’t even ready to hear any of what I had to say. How did I take it? I was fuming, like really fuming.
Again, I thought I had seen or heard it all in life until I had another cultural shock.
I met a certain tribe that allowed extramarital affairs for married men but was forbidden for married women
It didn’t surprise me that most of this traditional brouhaha was targeted mostly at women. As much as we preach women empowerment and the rest some communities aren’t having it.
So I got to discover that a married man can comfortably sleep with anything in a skirt, but a married woman is forbidden from doing such, or she bears the consequences of destroying her family.
As a result of her extramarital affair, her husband and first son would be terribly sick, and sometimes they can die from the illness if the woman doesn’t confess or undo whatever she has done. I know this sounds like one of those traditional home videos where you hear such barbaric practices, but it’s sad to say that it’s real; such practices exist somewhere in the world.
Another cultural shock I had was carrying a baby from the back. When I visited a particular city, out of excitement, I carried a child from a lady, and I heard people scream the moment I did that. I looked around in astonishment only for me to be told that I carried the child the wrong way which was a taboo. According to them, such repeated acts could make the child’s growth slower than normal.
I was stunned; the fact that they could associate such superstitious beliefs with an innocent and sweet child was baffling.
Crazy things are truly happening and it’s so sad to see such barbaric practices thrive.
Have you had any cultural shock? I’d love to read about them in the comment section.
All images are mine except otherwise stated.
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