Sunday Series: Superstitions, Part Four

In the calm of the early morning, something moving on the floor catches my eye.  I freeze, assuming the worst (cockroach), but see that it’s a harmless lizard.  Being a superstitious person though, I realize that a lizard is actually much worse than a cockroach.

In Botswana, lizards mean you are pregnant with a baby boy and frogs mean a baby girl.  My good friend Lily said that while she was pregnant lizards would follow her into her bedroom.  There’s also a practice (though I’m not sure how many people actually partake in it) of putting a pregnant woman in a room with lizards and frogs, seeing which species runs away, and thus finding out which sex the baby is.  

Owls are bad omens in Botswana.  People don’t see them very often, so they make people somewhat panicky.  The man who redid my roof in October discovered an owl, and was so completely shaken he could not work the rest of the day and had to be calmed by my landlord.  ...Though in truth, he probably wouldn’t have worked the rest of the day anyway.

All Batswana tribes have a Totem, which is an animal.  The Totem is supposed to guide and look after its people, and in return the people are supposed to respect the Totem.  The Totem is painted on the walls of the kgotla, which is where the chief of the tribe meets with his people to discuss problems in the community.  In my region, the overwhelming majority of people are from the Bakwena Tribe, and their Totem is the crocodile (kwena is the Setswana word for crocodile, hence Bakwena, people of the crocodile).  Other Totems throughout the country include elephants, cows, lions, etc.  Levels of reverence for Totems varies by tribe – for example, having a cow Totem wouldn’t stop someone from eating beef, but those with an elephant Totem would never eat elephant.  Regardless, people’s Totems are an important part of their identity in Botswana.

There are some other fun animal stories, but they aren’t quite superstitions, so I’ll save those for another time.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my first Sunday Series.  Next up: Lentsweletau.  It’s about time I share my village, school, and home.  Get ready for lots of pictures!

One last note: Happy 10 months of being in Botswana to my training group!

Oh, and clarification: I share my office with other people, so the lizard I saw was not meant for me!!