Ìbejì: The Twins
Yoruba twins, the highest twinning rate in the world, the ere ibeji figure carved when a twin dies, and the reversal from infanticide to veneration.
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Yoruba twins, the highest twinning rate in the world, the ere ibeji figure carved when a twin dies, and the reversal from infanticide to veneration.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Ìbejì na twins, and among di Yorùbá dem get special and widespread cult wey dey honour dem. Dem believe say twins dey share one soul inside two body, say dem get special power, and say dem fit bring good or bad luck depend on how dem treat dem. When one twin die, dem dey carve wooden figure make e take di place of dat twin, and di mama dey keep am, dey wash am, dey feed am, and dey carry am join di child wey dey alive.
Two main fact dey shape everything. Di Yorùbá get di highest rate of twin birth wey dem record anywhere for di world. And di tradition of honouring twins, based on wetin di tradition itself talk, na reversal of di practice wey dem dey take kill dem before.
Di Yorùbá dizygotic twinning rate dey documented as around 4.4 per cent of all birth, compared to roughly 0.5 per cent for di whole world generally . Dat one close to nine times difference and na real biological matter, no be just cultural thing. Igbo-Ora, one town for Oyo State, Guinness World Records recognise am as di place wey get di highest rate of twin birth for di world, and dem dey call di town di twin capital .
Nobody don officially settle di main cause. Dizygotic twinning dey happen when multiple ovulation occur, and di main hypothesis dem dey point hand to food, especially one type of yam wey get phytoestrogens wey dem dey mention often, alongside genetic factor dem for inside di population. Di food hypothesis dey popular but dem never prove am conclusively. Wetin dey sure na di rate.
Dis demography dey important to understand di religion. Any society wey roughly one out of twenty-three birth na twin birth na society wey must get clear stand on twins, and dem really develop one.
Di names dey automatic, dem dey give am to every set of Yorùbá twins.
Táíwò, di first one wey come out, from tọ́ ayé wò, to taste or test di world.
Kẹ́hìndé, di second one, from kẹ́yìn dé, di person wey come after.
Di Yorùbá way of looking at am turn di normal hierarchy upside down: Kẹ́hìndé na di senior. Di explanation wey dem dey give na say Kẹ́hìndé, as di elder, send Táíwò make e first go outside go test whether di world dey alright, and e wait for report. For Yorùbá thought, seniority dey follow di person wey think and send person message, no be di person wey first arrive, and di names of di twins capture dat meaning.
Di child wey dem born after twins na Ìdòwú, and di one after dat one na Àlàbá. Dis names sef dey automatic.
Yorùbá tradition hold say dem bin dey kill twins for birth before, and say dat practice later change.
Make person talk dis one clear instead of to avoid am. Dem bin dey kill twin babies for several West African societies and e dey documented for some parts of di region reach nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; among di Yorùbá, wetin di tradition itself talk na say dem stop di practice and replace am with worship, and di stories wey dey explain di change vary from place to place, and normally e dey involve one ruler or babalawo and wetin happen after dem kill twins.
Di historical detail dem no too clear and dis compiler no find any authoritative date or record. Wetin clear na say di tradition itself remember say change happen, and say di position today, where dem dey honour twins and give dia mothers special social status, na wetin di tradition see as correction of former mistake. Dat na unusual thing for religious tradition to talk about itself.
Di mama of twins na Ìyá Ìbejì, and she get recognised standing for society. For history, she dey sing and dance for public for di twins and receive gifts, wey work as form of support.
Di central practice. When twin die for baby stage, dem dey carve wooden figure make e represent dem, because twins na two body wey dey share one soul and dem no fit leave di surviving twin as half .
Wetin e be. Small wooden standing figure, wey normally dey between fifteen to thirty centimetres, wey dem carve as adult instead of baby, with di gender of di twin wey die, fine hairstyle, and many times scarification mark wey match di family own. E no be portrait; di twin wey die na baby and di figure na adult, because e dey represent wetin di twin for become.
Wetin dem dey do with am. Di mama dey keep am, dey wash am, dey rub am with oil and camwood, dey wear am cloth, dey feed am, and dey carry am. Over di years di body of di wood dey develop deep shine from hand wey dey touch am and oil, and ère ìbejì wey don rub wear well-well na proof say dem care for am for decades. Dem dey place am with di surviving twin, and treat am like di twin.
Na for dis point di missionary description of "idolatry" dey far pass from wetin dey actually happen. Mama wey her child die keep object wey represent her dead child and dey care for am. Whatever else wey dat one be, person fit understand am.
Di decline. Di carving tradition don mostly give way since di 1980s to photographs and plastic dolls . Di function still dey but di medium don change. As a result, museum collections full with ère ìbejì and di practice wey produce dem don reduce well-well. 07-arts treat di sculpture matter.
Di classification no really clear and na one of di places where di categories inside 01-what-an-orisa-is visibly dey struggle.
Dem describe Ìbejì as òrìṣà for inside most sources, and dem get cult, offerings, and place for inside di pantheon. But di object of di cult no be one single named power wey get biography; na category of people, and every set of twins na dia own example. Di ère ìbejì na specific dead child, wey make am dey closer to ancestral figure than to òrìṣà image.
Di common offerings wey dem document na beans, especially ẹ̀wà, and palm oil, and dem dey associate twins with Ṣàngó, though di reason for dat association dey vary depend on di story.
Cuba, Lucumí: Ibeyi or Jimaguas, syncretised with Saints Cosmas and Damian, di twin doctor saints, wey dia feast day na 26 September. Dem be child figures, wey dem dey give sweets and toys, and dem retain dat trickster-child character.
Brazil, Candomblé: Ibejis abi Erês, like Saints Cosmas and Damian, wey dia day on 27 September dem dey take sharing of sweet give children mark am, practice wey people dey see for streets of Salvador and Rio. For Brazilian use, erê don expand to mean the child-spirit part wey person wey spirit climb fit show, wey be extension wey pass the Yorùbá category.
The way e match with Cosmas and Damian na one of the neatest syncretisms for the whole system, since the Catholic saints na twins for real, and e no need any stretching.
Oral history and early records show say ancient Yorùbá communities bin dey see twin birth like abnormal thing and dem bin dey kill twins, custom wey dem share with plenty neighbouring societies . The historical change from killing twins to worshipping dem connect inside oral tradition to how kings enter the matter and divination advice during the time wey Ọ̀yọ́ Empire dey grow for seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, wey make the honouring of twins turn official custom alongside the worship of Ṣàngó , .
During the nineteenth-century Yorùbá civil wars and the transatlantic slave trade, enslaved Yorùbá people carry the worship of Ìbejì go Americas, where e blend enter Lucumí and Candomblé traditions , . At the same time, European Christian missionaries wey land Yorùbaland for mid-nineteenth century condemn twin rituals and the carving of ère ìbejì say na idolatry, and dem try to replace local customs with Western Christian practices , . Under British colonial rule for late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, colonial authorities ban any killing of twins wey remain while local families continue to commission wooden ère ìbejì from local sculptors .
After Nigerian independence in 1960, the material side of the tradition undergo serious changes. Economic shifts, plenty people wey convert enter Christianity and Islam, and the arrival of modern photography make many families replace hand-carved wooden figures with studio photographs abi plastic dolls wey company produce by late twentieth century , . Today, even though say strict ritual practice don reduce for cities, public pride for twin birth still strong well-well. Towns like Ìgbó-Ọrà dey celebrate dia special twin population through annual cultural festivals, and the spiritual standing of twins still dey endure across Yorùbáland and the global diaspora , .
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