I wanted to discuss a few things before I get started with the post. First off, we passed 20,000 pageviews over the weekend! This is a milestone I've been looking forward to, so it was very exciting. Thank you so much to all of my readers! When I started this blog almost two years ago, I never expected it to reach so wide of an audience. It's amazing to see how many people remain interested in mythology. Thank you, and I look forward to another 20,000!
Next: Today is going to be my last post about African folktales for the time being. Next week I'll have a special announcement post. After that, I plan to spend the month of October hopping between various mythologies and/or fairy tales. Beginning in November I'll begin a series of posts about Polynesian mythology, which I am very excited to look into. I hope you guys enjoy!
For today's post, let's take a look at an interesting practice in the Yoruba culture of Africa involving twins.
"Ibeji" is the name for the Yoruba god of twins. It is also the Yoruba word for twins. Because twins are so uncommon, they are seen as having a little bit of the divine within them. The spirits of twins are said by the Yoruba to occupy both the mortal world and the realm of the animals. Twins are said to share one spirit.
The rarity of twins is reflected in the attitude of the Yoruba towards them. Childbirth is said to be twice as difficult for twins, but the fortunes of the family increase by twice as much as they would if only one child were born. Because the Ibeji are considered semi-divine, great care is taken to not anger them. Ibeji are doted upon and their whims are appeased by their parents. If the twins are displeased, the god Ibeji might take note and cause the parents to become unlucky.
The most fascinating thing about Yoruba twins is the practice of ere ibeji. An ere ibeji is a small statuette carved when a twin dies. Should only one twin pass on, the living twin claims responsibility of the statue. It is their job to care for the ere ibeji as if their counterpart were still living. The statue is bathed once a day, and food is offered to its mouth with each meal. Essentially, the surviving Ibeji lives the lives of both.
(The surviving twin, pictured with the ere ibeji of their deceased sibling.)
If both twins should die, two statues are carved, and it becomes the mother's duty to care for both of them as if her children were still living.
(Some museums keep old ere ibeji on display.)
This entire concept fascinated me as soon as I read about it. I lucked out and found a number of articles about the Ibeji in my college's online database. There the matter became even more interesting. You might have noticed that I've been using the present tense when talking about the Ibeji - this is deliberate. The Yoruba culture still regards twins as having control over a family's fortunes. When an Ibeji dies, an ere ibeji is still created. However, the Yoruba have begun using photographs in place of carvings in some cases. The surviving twin is photographed twice, once as themself and once, mirrored, as the deceased Ibeji. The photographs are then blended together to make it appear as though both twins are pictured.
What do you guys think of the Ibeji? The thought of twins sharing one spirit (and of one having to live out the life of the deceased) made me think of the Weasley twins from Harry Potter.
I'll see you next week!
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