The Sunday Mail
Stranger than Fiction
Tendai Chara
IF you bump into wads of cash lying on the road, what would you do?
The above question might appear simple but those that find themselves in such a circumstance(s) often get into a quandary.
It is a rare situation that requires one to think on their feet.
However, most would possibly look around to see if they are not being watched before pocketing the cash and hurriedly walking away.
A few would take the money to a local police station and surrender it.
A Harare man is now living in regret after he squandered wads of United States dollars that he bumped into strewn on a road in Kuwadzana.
He picked up the money at dusk and spent it in the morning.
Sources close to this strange incident said after using the “ill-gotten” money, the man’s hand (the one that picked up the money) immediately began to swell.
Within a short space of time, the swelling spread to other parts of the body.
A visit to a local clinic drew blanks as to the cause of the swelling.
Accordingly, a traditional healer was summoned and it was announced that the money that the man had picked up was the source of the unexplained swelling.
Traditional cleansing rituals were subsequently conducted to heal the beleaguered man.
In turn, the curse from the money was transferred into a black hen, which was then released to roam the streets.
Tied to the hen was a red cloth with money secured to it.
In most cultures, it is widely believed that demons, bad luck, curses and avenging spirits can easily be transferred to unsuspecting people.
After consulting apostolic and traditional healers, those haunted by evil spirits are allegedly helped to dispose of the spirits by transferring them either into cash, animals or items.
The cash and the items are then left in the public so that anyone who picks them up will inherit the curses and evil spirits.
This is known as kurasirira in Shona and ukulahlisa in Ndebele.
But can demons, curses and evil spirits temporarily dwell in animals and wads of cash?
A renowned faith healer gave us some explanation.
“First and foremost, I would want to warn those that are in the habit of picking up items or money from public places to stop this bad habit. Demons, avenging spirits and bad omens can be transferred to unsuspecting individuals who are in the habit of picking up money from public places,” said the man of the cloth.
“The Kuwadzana man picked up money which had been used for rituals. It had demons or avenging spirits on it. In a way, the man inherited the curse of the person who had abandoned the money,” he adds.
The faith healer highlighted the strange practice could even be traced back to biblical times.
“Jesus used various methods in dealing with demons and one of the ways was to transfer the demons from a person into pigs. This is what happened to the man who is referred to as Legion in the Bible,” he said.
Traditional healers agree.
“We call this kurasirira in Shona. If one picks up the object to which evil spirits have been transferred, then that person inherits the problem,” said a Chitungwiza-based traditional healer.
It is believed that curses are mostly transferred to black hens, guinea fowls, goats and even, at times, cattle.
The items are then abandoned at busy places to attract those in the habit of picking up “lost” items. Most of the curses that are often disposed of in such a manner include barrenness, bad luck and evil spirits (mamhepo).
So each time people bump into cash or supposedly lost domestic animals, it is wise for them to distance themselves from such things, for they might end up bringing misery.
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