Twins in African Culture
Most ethnic groups have had some kind of reaction to the birth of twins. Most herald twins as gifts from God. Twins are also often seen as a double-edged sword. They are indeed gifts from God but also posses divine powers with the ability to harm those who cause them displeasure. The parents, especially, must be careful in how they treat their twins, for the twins can either die or cause illness to befall those who cross them wrongly. Many twins are spoiled as everyone lets them do as they wish.
Traditionally, there were several rites and rituals performed when twins were born.
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The Nsei:
The Nsei people confine the mother and twins behind a fence for several years. When the fence is taken down, there is a great feast. A twin pot decorated with a large red spot surrounded by a black circle is put in the mother’s house. This post contains palm wine mixture with some large snail shells.
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The Oku Kingdom:
In the Oku tradition, twins are regarded as magical beings with the ability to play tricks or even harm others if not treated appropriately. Twins are fed a mixture of ritual brown salt and oil at birth and a special ritual is performed. A mother of twins must carry a long neck calabash (a gourd) when she goes out in public.
Twins are not given any masks or sculptures in the Oku kingdom, but they have some traditional items. They are not given anything separately but share each ritual object. They are given a single bag, a single clay soup pot, and a decorated clay wine pot. The pots are painted in the middle with a large eye, black in the centre surrounded by white. If an archaeologist found such a pot from a long ago village, they would know it is special for twins.
When a twin dies, it is buried as fast as possible with two leafless neck garlands. If one is living, it is given salt and oil and the twin rite is performed. If both die before the ritual, then they are buried with no ceremony. Small reptiles and insects are considered the animals of twins. They can transform into these and must not be killed by the parents of twins.
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The Kedjom:
Among the Kedjom, twins are considered to be children of God and are treated as such. The nkung plant, a type of dracaena, is a fast growing green plant that remains such in times of drought. This plant seems to be associated with twins and is used around the shrines of God. Shrines with the plant are placed in compounds in the village at the entrance of the father of twins’ compound.
A striking and prominent shrine is also found within the kitchen of a twin mother. This consists of a collection of large and small clay pots and calabashes, a rattle and two snail shells. These are used for mixing the medicine and food used by the twins, their parents, their siblings and any other parents of twins who visit. As twins are associated with fertility, a garden space is dedicated to the twins.
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The Kpe of Coastal Cameroon:
In this culture, twins are considered a difficult thing and rituals are performed when a pregnancy is discovered to prevent twins. They are often sickly, they are difficult to nurture, and it is believed if the twin does not like the house it is born into, then it will die. Twins are welcomed if born, but are viewed with apprehension.
Twins and first-born children dying in infancy are buried with no coffin in mwendene leaves. The reason for this being to prevent such children being born again. Some children belong to the underworld and are born just to vex their parents by dying in infancy again and again. Such children are identified by a diviner or the parents themselves. In the South-West province, they will cut a limb or finger or toe off the deceased baby so that the underworld will reject its return, and it will be forced to be reborn to the parents and live.
One account of a girl in Kumba holds that she had been born and died five times to the same parents. They cut her left arm off just below the elbow before her final burial. The next child born to these parents was missing an arm below the left elbow. This applies to twins as they are also considered children of the underworld. This accounts for their mystical and magical powers accredited to them.
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The Yoruba of Nigeria:
Originally the Yoruba would kill twins and possible their mother. They believed twins were evil omen. This practice was abandoned in pre-colonial times except for the Igbo people of Onitsha. They held on to this idea that twins were an abomination that must be killed up until the introduction of Christianity. Now twin shrines and special observances have replaced traditional infanticide. The acceptance of twins into Yoruba society is explained by a myth that they are of divine origin and the descendants of monkeys. They must be treated with respect to gain prosperity for their family.
The Yoruba twin rituals have been studied more than any group in West Africa. They have the unusual rite of carving a wooden ibeji figure in place of a dead twin. This precaution evolves from the belief that twins possess one soul between the two of them, and with the death of one twin, the living twin could not live with half a soul. The deceased twin's half soul is believed to live in the ibeji figure. The ibeji is treated exactly as the living twin. It is clothed in similar garments, and 'fed' during meal times. It is also carried by the mother when she goes to the market. When the living twin reaches maturity, the ibeji is handed over to them to care for. Ibeji figures have been so studied as they have lineage symbols carved into each one and act as an almost written record of family trees.
Dr. D. Lyons http://africculture.blogspot.com/2010/11/information-on-twins-in-west-africa.html