06/05/2026
The Machete in the Coffin: Why This Traditional Ritual is More Than Just a Superstition. (A true life story)
I used to think putting a machete in a casket was cringe because some people used to practice that maybe if someone passes away and they don't understand the circumstance surrounding the person's death or surrounding the person's passing away, they will get to put maybe a machete, a knife or any sharp object inside the person's coffin and tell the person to come back and avenge his or her death. Omo, I don't use to believe that thing.
Until this lady told me a story of her elder sister, back then she was in secondary school, she was in SS3 to be precise, when her elder sister came to Abuja. Her elder sister after her own secondary school came to Abuja and started working as a secretary. Along the line she met this guy who did not even give a bloody F whether she went to the university, whether she went to any tertiary institution or not, but he was ready to sponsor her.
He was ready to take care of her. He was ready to further her education, right? He started dating her, he was giving her money, lots and lots of money, like she was actually living in one trenches like that around Lugbe axis, right? But this guy moved her from there and he brought her to town, even when he was bringing her to town she still considered her best friend. They did the same secondary school together, they moved into Abuja together, so she was like "Babe, if you really want to help me you have to rent me a two-bedroom apartment because I cannot do without this girl, this girl is me, I am she, and then we have to be living together."
And this lady was the type that if anything was going on well for her, she will always call her friends to celebrate with her, like normally that is what we are all supposed to do, right? And then this guy actually found her admission in one of the universities in Nigeria. She was about going and then he got her a car. He got her this car so that things will be easy for her, because he got her an apartment off-campus, right, in that particular university. So she, leaving off-campus, she will be using the car for mobility, which will be easier for her. She took her friends to the club that particular day, she invited her friends, they came, some came from far to even come to Abuja to come and celebrate this girl. They came and after everything, they went to the club.
So after club, the ones that were supposed to go back home went back home, and then the ones that were living very far came to her house to sleep. So on that faithful day, it was like five of them that came back home, she, her best friend, and three other friends that came from another state to come and celebrate with her. After everything, she came back home and this girl, in less than few hours, she passed away mysteriously. Mind you, this girl is the breadwinner of the family, she's the ada of the house, she's the one taking care of her siblings. In short, this her particular sister that told me this story, she was the one taking care of her. Her
mother was under payroll even though they were in the village, she was like, sending them some money every month to buy foodstuffs and everything. She cried just like that.
Even though autopsy was a thing in Nigeria but it's not really all families that like doing that thing, right? Some families believe, okay, if you have gone, you have gone. So they took her back to the village and before the burial, the mother was like, "Uh-uh, her daughter did not just die like that, this is a lie, that something has happened to her daughter, somebody did something to her daughter, maybe one of her friends or somebody that is envious of her daughter did something to her daughter.
Stay tuned for the part two
