To
the Yoruba twin children have always been special.
There are variations in the tradition, some believing that twins
brought good fortune, and others that twins were evil omens,and
some that believe that twins can bring good or bad fortune, depending
on how you treat them. Generally those seeing twins as evil are
the older traditions. Today twins are considered a very favorable
event. The Yoruba have a high incidence of twins, which probably
accounts for their significance in the culture.
Orisa
Ibeji is the deity protector of twins, and harming a twin might
bring his wrath upon you. One common element of the traditions
is that it is important to treat twins well, offering them special
treatment.
The
Ibeji tradition seems to originate with a story that twins were
first brought to the Yoruba by monkeys. One tradition has it that
only monkeys had twins before that, and that it was a punishment.
