Crossing a river is a taboo for pregnant women in several parts of Africa where rivers are believed to have a spirit.
This taboo is not an African peculiarity. It exists and has existed in other parts of the world and for a very long time.
Umberto Eco, in his Interpretation and Over-Interpretation (1992, p.27) noted in this respect that
“Bridges are sacrilegus because they span the sulcus, the moat of water delineating the city boundaries, for this reason, they may be built only under the close, ritual control of the Pontifex”
