Barbados has an unusually well-documented body of modern folk belief for a Caribbean island. G. Addinton Forde’s Folk Beliefs of Barbados, published by the National Cultural Foundation in 1988, records material concerning animals, the body, children, death, duppies, household luck and other forms of supernatural interpretation. The 21 beliefs gathered here are a selective collection of well-attested Bajan examples rather than a claim that Barbados has a fixed number of superstitions.
Some remain familiar as family sayings, jokes or habits followed “just in case,” while others belong more strongly to older generations and oral history. Meanings can also shift between households. A folk belief recorded in Barbados should therefore not be treated as something every Barbadian accepts or practises.
Creature Omens in the Bajan Home
A Noisy Cricket Brings Money
A loudly singing cricket that enters a Barbadian home may be welcomed as a money omen. Older accounts say it should not be killed or driven away because its presence announces money coming into the household.
A Quieter Cricket Can Warn of Trouble
Bajan cricket lore distinguishes between different visitors. While the loud house cricket is associated with money, another less noisy cricket has been linked in recorded folklore with illness or death. The contrast makes the sound of the insect part of the omen.
A Brown Grasshopper Means Money
A brown grasshopper appearing inside the house has traditionally been read as a favourable financial sign. One recorded Bajan version says money may be coming to the household after the insect appears.
A Green Grasshopper Means Money Leaving
Colour reverses the meaning in another Barbadian grasshopper belief. A green grasshopper entering the house is associated with losing money, while the brown form carries the more favourable interpretation.
The Godhorse Near a House Is a Death Omen
Barbadians use the name godhorse for a large stick insect. Folklore has connected one appearing around a house with an approaching death in that household. The insect itself is harmless to people, so the ominous meaning belongs to folklore rather than its biology.
A Centipede Indoors Means an Enemy
In one recorded Bajan interpretation, finding a centipede inside the home warns that the resident has an enemy. The creature becomes a social omen rather than simply an unwanted household visitor.
A Green Lizard Can Announce Pregnancy
A green lizard or locally described “wood slave” appearing in a house has been associated with pregnancy. Versions of the belief may point to a woman in the household, a close relative, or a pregnancy connected with one of the men living there.
Killing a House Spider Risks Broken Crockery
One Bajan household warning says a spider found indoors should be left alone. Killing it is said to be followed by broken plates, cups or other crockery, turning an ordinary household spider into a small domestic luck test.
Black Bees Carry Unwelcome News
Older Caribbean belief recorded in Barbadian folklore associates the appearance of black bees with foreboding news or misfortune. The insect is treated as a messenger within the belief; its arrival does not actually predict future events.
A Mongoose Crossing the Road Brings Luck
A mongoose running across the road in front of a traveller has long been treated as a favourable Bajan sign. The encounter belongs to the island’s animal-omen tradition and is commonly interpreted as good luck rather than a warning.
Luck Rules Around the House
Opening an Umbrella Indoors Invites Duppies
The familiar warning against opening an umbrella indoors has a distinctly supernatural Bajan version: doing so may invite duppies into the house. Some tellings simply describe the act as bad luck, while others make the unwanted spirit connection explicit.
Do Not Look Into a Cracked Mirror
A cracked mirror is treated cautiously in recorded Barbadian superstition. Looking into one is said to bring bad luck, a local form of the wider mirror-omen tradition found in several cultures.
Sweeping After Sunset Sweeps Wealth Away
An older household rule warns against sweeping after the sun has gone down. The act is said to interfere with future prosperity, expressed in one form of the belief as never becoming rich after making a habit of night-time sweeping.
Black-Eyed Peas Bring New Year Luck
Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day appears in recorded Bajan superstition as a way of welcoming good fortune for the year ahead. It is a seasonal luck custom rather than a prediction that eating a particular food changes future events.
Body Signs, Pregnancy, and Childhood Beliefs
One Sneeze Means a Woman Is Talking About You
A playful Bajan body omen interprets a single sneeze as a sign that a woman is talking about the person who sneezed. Two sneezes change the supposed speaker to a man.
A Longer Second Toe Predicts Who Rules the Marriage
An older gendered saying claims that a woman whose second toe is longer than her big toe will “rule” her husband. It survives as a folk reading of body shape rather than a meaningful measure of personality or relationships.
Crossed Legs Were Said to Complicate Childbirth
Some Barbadian families warned pregnant women not to sit with their legs crossed because the posture was believed to make delivery difficult. This is a cultural pregnancy belief, not medical guidance; pregnancy concerns should be discussed with a qualified healthcare professional.
Green Pigeon Peas Help a Child Talk Early
A traditional childcare belief links generous servings of green pigeon peas with a child learning to speak sooner. The association belongs to folk knowledge and should not be read as a clinical claim about speech development.
Throw a Lost Tooth Onto the Roof for the Rat
A child who loses a milk tooth may throw it onto the roof while calling to a rat to provide another tooth. The rhyme varies in spelling when written in Bajan speech, but the purpose is clear: the old tooth is exchanged symbolically for a healthy replacement.
Funerals, Departed Friends, and Duppy Caution
Funeral Clothing Is Turned Inside Out Overnight
A dress worn to a funeral may, according to recorded Bajan folklore, be turned inside out and left hanging that way overnight. The practice belongs to a wider cluster of Barbadian beliefs concerned with funerals, the dead and avoiding unwanted spiritual attachment.
A Little Rum Is Shared With Departed Friends
When people gather to “fire one,” meaning to have a drink, a small amount of rum may be poured aside for friends who have died. The gesture remembers the departed and reflects a folk relationship between communal drinking, memory and the unseen.
Why Creature Omens Stand Out in Barbadian Folklore
Animals and insects occupy an unusually visible place in recorded Bajan folk belief. Forde’s collection gives animals their own section, while later scientific writing on human relationships with insects has preserved the Barbadian cricket and godhorse examples. A cricket can mean money or trouble depending on its sound; grasshopper colour changes the financial reading; a centipede represents an enemy; and the godhorse carries one of the island’s darker household omens.
These meanings are cultural interpretations attached to familiar creatures. They should not encourage killing wildlife. The godhorse, despite the fear surrounding it in folklore, is a harmless stick insect, and the ordinary presence of crickets, lizards, spiders, bees or centipedes does not provide evidence of future fortune, pregnancy, enemies or death.
Duppies and Obeah Are Related Topics, Not Interchangeable Terms
Duppy is used in Barbados and elsewhere in the English-speaking Caribbean for a ghost or spirit of the dead. That makes duppies natural figures in funeral warnings and household stories, including the belief about opening an umbrella indoors.
Obeah has a more complicated history. Academic research traces early use of the term in Barbados and shows that it has referred to a varied range of African-derived healing, protective and spiritual practices rather than one neatly defined religion or a synonym for every superstition. Treating every Bajan supernatural belief as “obeah” therefore erases distinctions that appear in both historical research and Barbadian cultural documentation.
How Barbados Preserves Folk Belief Through Oral History
The National Cultural Foundation’s Oral History Programme records older Barbadians’ memories as part of a wider research archive. Its documented themes include superstitions, folk beliefs, myths, obeah, religion and spirituality alongside work, recreation, music and other parts of Barbadian life. This matters because many beliefs are transmitted through speech and family memory rather than through formal rule books.
That oral setting also explains why versions differ. A cricket omen remembered in one household may not be interpreted exactly the same way in another, while an older funeral practice may survive mainly as something grandparents once described. Variation is part of the folklore rather than evidence that one household’s version must be the only correct one.
📚 Roots of Belief
- G. Addinton Forde — Folk Beliefs of Barbados — The principal Barbados-specific reference behind the animal, body, childhood, household, funeral and duppy material discussed here. Published by Barbados’ National Cultural Foundation in 1988; the bibliographic record identifies a 47-page work with dedicated sections on animals and the body and indexed material on children, death, crickets, grasshoppers, green lizards, mirrors, umbrellas, pregnancy, sweeping, godhorses and other beliefs. (A digitised bibliographic record of a work issued by Barbados’ national cultural body.)
- National Cultural Foundation — The NCF Oral History Programme — Documents the Foundation’s collection of Barbadian oral testimony and explicitly identifies superstitions, obeah, folk beliefs, myths, religion and spirituality among its research themes. (The National Cultural Foundation is Barbados’ official cultural institution.)
- Edible Crickets (Orthoptera) Around the World — Records the Barbados belief that a loudly singing cricket entering a house foretells money and notes the contrasting unfavourable interpretation attached to another quieter cricket, citing Forde’s Barbadian collection. (A peer-reviewed scientific article preserved by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.)
- African Zoology — The Charismatic Praying Mantid: A Gateway for Insect Conservation — Discusses cultural meanings attached to insects and records the Barbados belief connecting a stick insect near a house with a death, helping document the godhorse omen in scholarly literature. (A peer-reviewed zoological journal article.)
- Slavery & Abolition — On the Early Use and Origin of the Term ‘Obeah’ in Barbados and the Anglophone Caribbean — Supports the historical distinction between Barbados’ broad folk-superstition tradition and the more specific, historically changing category called obeah. (A peer-reviewed historical study by researchers specialising in Caribbean history and culture.)