Baby Old Man

Customs and traditions make a tribe what it is. I believe in it and it's no longer news that I love the mystery behind the beliefs.

Traditions that forbid the woman from eating the gizzard when a fowl is slaughtered for food in the home still exist. Most Igbo communities leave the gizzard for the father of the house or the firstborn son. In my own home, mother ate it, and it was always more than one anyway!

Anyway, customs and traditions pop up mainly when someone dies; that is when you hear all sorts of rules and regulations that are as a result of the people's beliefs.

I've seen and heard of all sorts like where individuals do not attend funerals of people they are older than particularly, parents are forbidden from attending the funeral of their children. To these people it's a taboo for an older person to bury a younger one.

I've also seen where upon the death of a parent every unmarried daughter is expected to shave her hair completely; this happens in my Lokpanta. I remember mother telling us, her daughters that if she died before we all got married that we must all submit ourselves to those customarily authorised to shave our hair. She also warned that we nust shave our hair to the scalp in gorimapa/malam style (meaning bald) or have her visit us as a ghost to do it herself.lol.

I've also heard of places where the widow must spend one night with the body of the late husband.

In some places too, widows sit on the bare floor throughout the mourning period.

Recently, I attended a service of songs of a friend's mother and I was surprised that one of late mama's grandsons was absent at the service.

Freddy's (not real name) absence was quite obvious and I asked why he wasn't there. The answer was weird but I listened with very keen interest.

This young man is believed to be mama's late husband who passed on several years ago.

The late woman's husband reincarnated and came as the boy. So it was his (the little boy's) wife that died and custom forbids him from participating in the funeral rites of his wife. (are you confused like me?)

He will not partake in any activity and also must not eat anything cooked at and for the burial.

I really do not believe in reincarnation but when you see certain behaviours, you start to wonder.

When I saw the young man later on I saw him in a different way.  He acts too mature for his age. Could it be that he knows his real age? Lol

I also learnt that as a baby when it was still being insinuated that he was grandpa's reincarnation, he always cried until his aunty approached him and said to him, "If you are really my father, I ask you to prove it and stop all the crying" from that day, baby Freddy never cried for no reason as babies would do. When he did cry, he would stop as soon as he was called his grandfather's name; that further confirmed that he was their late father.

How do you convince people who witnessed this sort of strange happening that it was just a coincidence and not a confirmation of reincarnation.

I stared at Freddy at any given opportunity and when he walked close to me I just called him "Daddy" to which he responded with a big smile.

Upon further enquiry, I learnt that he would also not see grandma's corpse as her husband's reincarnate.

I was also told that their late grandpa promised to come live with his son only when his son settled down with a wife who would help take care of him. A year after he passed they had Freddy and realised that papa had come to live with them as he promised.

If my husband told me that my baby boy was his father I would not breastfeed that baby again. How can I offer my breasts to an old reincarnated man. (haha) I'm also sure that from the way a male infant suckles on the breast one can tell if it's a regular baby or a " baby old man"

This story of reincarnation is believeable but my Christian faith will not let me accept it. Do you believe in it?