Giving birth to twins; a taboo that has turned to a blessing.

Sometimes things that happens around us could trigger some thoughts, memories and flashbacks.

Welcome to my blog good friends. I’m pleased to have you today.

I have an interesting story for you today, it’s hinged on my reality.

The miracle of civilization kept me

The above picture has a lot to do with our discussion today, let me explain. As I was going to my farm today, I came across little vibrant children walking their flock to the field. They’re full of joy, I gazed and and observed that their goat 🐐 gave birth to twins which they’re so happy about.

I myself was thrilled by their demonstrations and asked for their permission for a picture, they granted me permission to take some pictures of their goat and the new babies.

Once upon a time in West Africa

Before now in West Africa, it’s a serious taboo for mothers to give birth to twins; both humans and animals. It’s an abomination that attracts huge consequences on the mother, the babies and the family at large.

It is now known both in West Africa that twins come from the same zygote and form two embryos. For some families, having twins is counted a blessing, while for others it can be regarded a very stressful burden. The twins played a unique role in many West African cultures during the Iron Age from the first millennium to the 19th century according to history. Igbo-speaking people in southeast Nigeria where I’m coming from, for example, are afraid of twins; it was something that no one wishes for.

Our earlier beliefs versus civilization

The Igbo people regard the twins as a bad omen sent by "gods". They view the twins as supernatural beings who can destroy society. In one of Chinua Achebe's famous novels, "Things Fall Apart", I learned that the Earth goddess had decided that the twins were "an affront to the earth and must be destroyed". And if the clan does not determine the proper punishment for crimes against the great goddess, the anger is scattered all over the world, not just the perpetrators ”(Achebe, 1994, p. 125).

Therefore, when twins were born them in my clan, their parents had to leave them in the Evil Forest to die. According to Achebe "the twins were put in a clay pot and thrown into the forest" (Achebe, 1994, p. 61).

Unlike Igbo, the Yoruba people view twins as important. In Yoruba, the twins are called "Ibeji" (Mobolade, 1997, p. 14). The first twins are usually called "Taiyewo" and the second "Kehinde". In the Yoruba religion, the twins are believed to be under the protection of Shango, the god of thunder and lightning. The twins are very cared for and treated with respect. For example, the community in which they were born honors twins with a monthly vacation. Yoruba also believes that twins have supernatural powers that can increase their parents' wealth. However, if the twin is neglected, one or both of them will become seriously ill and possibly die. In this case, bad luck is destined for his parents and the whole society. Twins are as important in death as in life. When one or both of the twins die, a statue of Ibeji will be engraved in their memory. Parents will treat these statues as if they were children living by singing, feeding and caring for them. Parents who are not interested in the Ibeji statue will suffer from poverty and disease (Mobolade, 1997).

But civilization has made my people to realize their mistakes and errors.

Now twins are regarded as precious gifts in West Africa.

If not because of the miracle of civilization, I wouldn’t be alive today because I was born a twins.

But no told me; not even my mother told me that we came twins. It was recently that one of my elder ones called me on phone and on our discussions, he accidentally disclosed this secret of ages!

When I further pushed for explanation to his statement, he told me that it was sealed and kept secret because my twin died immediately after birth, it was believed that if exposed to the survived twin, it might lead to his/her death too.

So they kept this secret from me for over thirty years.

Now that they’ve finally disclosed the secret, I’m still waiting to pass on 😂 😂

For me, I don’t believe everything from other people’s belief system. Nothing will happen to me. For me, it’s weird for my people to believe that letting a twin know that his or twin died would cause him or her dying also.

In conclusion

Twins played an important spiritual role in several societies in West Africa during the Iron Age. Some societies such as Igbo kill twins out of greater fear of the unknown. Yoruba loved the twins and worshiped them as gods, knowing that the consequences would be dire if not. The statue of the Yoruba Ibeji cult is made of wood and painted with imported metal to imitate African skin tones. Twins provided us with a valuable record of African religious beliefs related to the birth of twins. The reasons why different cultures in West Africa have different views about the treatment of twins vary according to their own religious beliefs. They may have interpreted this belief differently from generation to generation, but whether viewed as good or bad, Twins will remain an important spiritual figure in African History.

Max.