The twenty-two year old female informant born in the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa, revealed that there are nine forbidden roads in Africa where people who go and never return. The roads are home to evil spirits.  It seems similar to the Bermuda triangle superstition.

The twenty-one year old informant from Hong Kong revealed that “you’re not supposed to buy your boyfriend or girlfriend a pair of shoes because it means you want them to walk [pause] like away from you.” I jokingly asked if you want to break up with someone could just buy a pair of shoes she said, “you could.”

My informant believes in this practice and says that many of her peers back home believe in it as well. While hanging with friends on of which was considering what to buy a boyfriend for her significant other was warned not to buy shoes.

I believe this superstition is enforced because the feet literally and symbolically symbolize carrying a person to a destination. I think giving a new pair of shoes symbolized change, a change in direction that will lead them away from where they are.

To add to the list of gifts not to buy it is not good to “give your…like boyfriend [or girlfriend] a glass or cup” when asked why she explained that cups come as a set and is synonymous  with sending some on off to their death bed. It is interesting that this form of lore is earned or enforced not during childhood but once a person is old enough to date.

The twenty year old informant from Hong Kong claimed “My grandma… she use to… she use to scare me as child because I played with an umbrella… you know how some umbrellas are pretty” She shyly admitted, “I used to play with them indoors but my grandma said I would be short and I believed her.”

As in most cultures, the elder is the keeper of traditions. In this particular case the superstition was passed orally as a warning from one generation to the next and was only talked about when someone defied the superstition. Another informant re-confirmed this superstition claiming to have learned it from his parents. I asked if there was something wrong with being short she informed me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. “It was just something to scare me.

The twenty-two year old female informant born in the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa, revealed that in her country people are discouraged from sleeping in the nude or in undergarments. Nudity attracts evil spirits. If a person sleeps naked they risk being raped by a spirit. It is also known as a wet dream. The spirits will seduce a person’s mind and spirit usually by take the form of someone you know like a neighbor or friend.

The twenty-two year old female informant born in the Gabonese Republic, a state located on the west coast of Central Africa, revealed that where she is from twins are thought to have superpowers. “You’re not supposed to do anything bad to twins or something bad will happen to you.” After birth a ceremony is held in their honor twins.  Twins naturally have special abilities. Apparently, not all are capable of controlling those powers. In effort to cultivate those supernatural powers sometimes twins are trained by a sorcerer. When asked if they still have powers when they are separated? My informer found that they are indeed thought of as powerful without each other but more potent when together. Twins are also somehow linked to serpents neither there nor are they not allowed to kill and eat snakes.