Yoruba Twin Figure Carvings

There are an estimated 15 million Yoruba-speaking people living in Nigeria and the neighboring nations of Benin Republic and Togo. Though there are local differences in dialect and custom, the Yoruba constitute one of the largest ethnic groups on the African continent. The majority of the Yoruba live in southwestern Nigeria. Their country ranges from open grasslands in northern Yorubaland to tropical rain forest in the south. The Yoruba are farmers, traders and craftsmen. They grow maize, yams, cassava, beans and other foods for subsistence, and cocoa, kola and oil palm for cash. Yoruba craftsmen are noted for their skill in woodcarving, weaving, pottery making and metalwork and produce fine quality objects both for domestic use and for sale.

The Yoruba have resided in cities for many hundreds of years and are among the most urbanized people in Africa. Ibadan, located in southern Nigeria, is one of the oldest and largest Black cities in Africa with a population estimated at over 5 million. Yoruba cities formed the political centers of city-states governed by a king and supreme council. In pre-colonial times each city-state was autonomous and had its own distinct dialect, religious cults and army. These ancient states frequently warred on one another, and several centuries ago one of these kingdoms, Oyo, became dominant. Old Oyo, as this state is called, gave cohesiveness to Yoruba custom and contributed greatly to the collective identity of modern Yoruba-speaking people. Today, however, a Yoruba will often call himself or herself "Ibadan" rather than Yoruba in order to emphasize their local identity. There are more than fifty traditional Yoruba city-states recognized today. Though their domains have been absorbed into the government of the modern nation of Nigeria, traditional kings often have considerable local and national political power.

The compound is the organizational core of Yoruba culture. A compound is formed by patrilineal descent; that is, by membership in a corporate kinship group traced through the male line. Compounds are therefore associations of related males and serve as basic landholding and political units. Each compound also maintains its unique rituals and ancestral shrines. Formerly, heads of compounds were also represented before the king and provided military support, as a unit, to the king in times of war.

Religion is equal in importance to kinship and politics for the structure of Yoruba society. Though both Christianity and Islam have made deep inroads, many forms of traditional religious expression persist and remain very much a part of Yoruba daily life. There are at least 401 recognized ORISHA, or gods, in the Yoruba pantheon. Many of these ORISHA are localized ancestral spirits or nature gods and are worshiped in relatively small areas. Others are universal in Yoruba belief and maintain vigorous cults in Nigeria and in Cuba and Brazil as well. The most powerful ORISHA include OLORUN, the creator god; SHANGO, god of thunder who has the power to bring wealth; OGUN, the god of iron and war who is the modern patron of truck drivers; OSHUN, the Yoruba "Venus," and IBEJI, the god of twins.

Twinning as a biological phenomenon is exceptionally common among the Yoruba. Forty-five births in 1000 are twins. This is a rate of twinning which is four times that of either the United States of Great Britain. Parents of twins greet their birth as both a blessing and a burden. Twins double everything. They are twice as much trouble, but bring twice as much good fortune to those parents who give them proper care. Twins, of IBEJI, exist in three different worlds at the same time - the "Bush," the Spirit World and the world of human beings.

Many Africans divide their world between the Bush and the village; that is, between raw nature and civilization. Cultivated land around the village constitutes civilization while the forest and other uncultivated land is the Bush. The Bush is the home of wild animals and spirits beyond the control of man. It is therefore a place of mystery, danger and much supernatural power. Twins are directly associated with the Bush through an association with the Black-and-White Colobus monkey. The Colobus monkey is very manlike in its behavior, but remains an unpredictable and uncontrollable wild animal. Human twins have some of these characteristics. The Colobus female bears twins and carries them in the same manner as a human mother with one infant on her back and the other against her stomach. In songs to IBEJI the connection becomes especially clear:
Ibeji re, omo edun ibeji re, omo edun Kere-kere-yan "Behold twins, children of the monkey. They do not die."

The association of twins with the spirit world is somewhat more abstract than their association with the wild and erratic Bush. Twins are EJIRE, they share a common soul. For some Yoruba they are also ABIKU, or destined to die. Twins bridge the gap between the world of the gods and the world of humans. According to legend it was once the practice to kill all twin children born to poor parents. One day the children of the rich and powerful began to die. The rulers sought the oracle god of divination, IFA, to determine the cause of the calamity and find some means to stop it. IFA told the rulers that they must stop the killing of twins because it displeased the god SHANGO to whom the twins were sacred. The oracle further instructed the mothers of twins to dance every five days to IBEJI, the spirit of the twin infants. They were to be paid for this performance and from this they would become rich. Thus the song says "Beji, Beji la! O be ekun iya re" (Give birth to twins and be rich! The mother of twins does not weep from hunger). Thus the birth of twins signals a change for the better in family fortune, but only if they are given very carefully prescribed care. To neglect to care for IBEJI properly means certain disaster.

The death of a twin or twins upsets the balance between the spirit world and the human world. Measures must be taken to bring this imbalance into order and protect the living. In fact, the death of a twin is so supernaturally dangerous that a deceased child is said to have "gone to Lagos (the major city of Nigeria)" to make a fortune for the family. To say that a twin has died is both improper and potentially threatening to the parents and siblings of the deceased IBEJI. Special rituals, songs and dances associated with living twins must be continued after death with even greater adherence to prescription.

In order to insure more direct contact with the spirit of dead twins a mother commissions the carving of an ERE IBEJI after a twin has "gone to Lagos." The Yoruba are the only people in West Africa who carve wooden images to commemorate twins. The ERE figure is carved in the same sex as the dead twin, but is shown in mature adulthood rather than in infancy or childhood. Care is taken to render a natural likeness and even the ILA, or kin group scars placed on the cheeks at initiation, are represented on the carving. IBEJI figures are carved with bent knees and elongated arms held to the side, and the face is given a serene effect of "coolness" (OTUTO) characteristic of Yoruba religious carving in general.

IBEJI figures are carved from one of several kinds of hardwoods. They average 25.0 centimeters in height, but northern carvings are slightly taller than those from southern Yorubaland. The TIRAH, or koranic amulet, worn by Muslim Yoruba is used an as element of style in northern figures. Iron anklets are often applied to ERE in order to insure that the soul of the surviving twin does not try to join its deceased mate. It should be recalled that IBEJI are EJIRE and share a single soul. Thus, the living twin must be hindered in its desire to "go to Lagos" where it will find the rest of its soul. Other Ibeji figures are treated with brass bracelets and blue beads. Brass rings and blue beads are sacred to the goddess OSHUN who is, among other things, the protector of children. The use of these two elements on a carving represents a prayer to OSHUN for the protection of the surviving children in the family.

One very powerful association of IBEJI with the world of the ORISHA was touched upon earlier. SHANGO has been mentioned as the god of thunder and lightning and the provider of material wealth. He is also known by the epithet OKO IBEJI, or "husband of twins." IBEJI can, therefore, be accurately referred to as "Thunderchildren" under the protection of their supernatural father. Mothers of twins apply a substance of camwood powder, a reddish-brown material derived from tree bark, to IBEJI figures in order to consecrate them to SHANGO. Indigo, a natural blue dye, was also used in the past to call upon the protection of SHANGO, but today indigo has been replaced by Reckitt's laundry blueing. The strong connection with SHANGO is illustrated by the figure in photograph 8. The miniature cowrie shell vest, called EWU SHANGO in Yoruba, is worn in full size version by the priests of SHANGO on ritual occasions. Cowrie shells are an ancient form of currency in West Africa and represent the relationship of SHANGO to material fortune.

Twin figures are treated in much the same manner as living children. They are regularly "fed" beans and red palm oil which are foods sacred to the god IBEJI, and are washed in a bath of special herbs. IBEJI figures are placed on a household altar and covered with a special cloth. Sacrifices of food and other items are regularly made at this altar. During the feast of SHANGO fresh camwood and blueing is applied to the figures in order to renew consecration to the thunder god. At this time the mother of twins who have "gone to Lagos" gives a dinner party for children of the compound. Chicken is served and bits are reserved for the carvings. Male twins receive parts of a rooster while females are "fed" bits of a hen. The party proceeds as though the wooden figures in a place of honor at the table were living beings. These activities are done to insure favorable treatment from the spirit of the twins, as there is an element of both fear and love involved in the rituals.

Ritual care and feeding of twin figures are but a part of the IBEJI complex. In dance the spirit of the twins comes to life, and it was through dance that the poor mothers of twins became wealthy. Though most modern Yoruba mothers do not dance with their twins (living or dead) every five days as commanded by the ancient oracle, they do dance on the sacred day of SHANGO which falls on the third day of the New Year celebration. On this occasion mothers perform for one another and for celebrants and sing special songs which praise IBEJI and call upon him for supernatural protection. The full supernatural force of IBEJI is released at this time, and he bestows favor upon those who keep faith with him.

In order to appreciate African sculpture it is essential to understand that to the African a figure such as an ERE IBEJI is not "art" in any western sense of the term. The figure is a living being; a link between the seen and unseen worlds. This link is established and maintained through ritual, song and dance. To neglect the forces of the spirit world would result in grave misfortune, but for those who follow the ways prescribed by the gods the rewards are believed to be great. Love mixed equally with fear is thus the lot of the Yoruba mother of twins.

"We are begging the twins not to trouble us, we are saying MO DEGBE O! - I prostrate myself!"