![\"\"](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/e\/e1\/The_Childrens_Museum_of_Indianapolis_-_Female_ere_ibeji_twin_figure_pair.jpg\/401px-The_Childrens_Museum_of_Indianapolis_-_Female_ere_ibeji_twin_figure_pair.jpg\" "\\"Traditional"){kind=spacer}
<\/p>\nI have a huge interest in how twins are depicted in different cultures.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a twin.\u00c2\u00a0 My favorite story of twins comes from Antiquity, the myth of Castor and Pollux (who become the Gemini twins).\u00c2\u00a0 But a close second is the Yoruba concept of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ibeji.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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The Yoruba people are an ethnic group from Nigeria, which happens to have the highest rate of twin births in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, however, the death rate is also high.\u00c2\u00a0 Yoruba beliefs holds that the first twin born is a sort of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153scout\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and, once they see the world, sends a message back to the other twin telling them whether they should continue into this world.\u00c2\u00a0 If not, the twin yet to be born is stillborn.\u00c2\u00a0 If neither twin thinks that life will be good enough, they are both stillborn.\u00c2\u00a0 The twins also share a singular soul.<\/p>\n
If one of the twins dies then there is the problem of the living twin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soul being in crisis.\u00c2\u00a0 So physical representations of the twins, called ibeji, are created to house the soul of the twins.\u00c2\u00a0 These have traditionally been carved wooden sculptures.<\/p>\n
As per usual, European colonial powers sought to destroy this practice and impose Christianity.\u00c2\u00a0 Under England\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s control, ibeji figures were made illegal.\u00c2\u00a0 The Yoruba people adapted and created ibeji less noticeably \u00e2\u20ac\u0153African\u00e2\u20ac\u009d through photography <\/p>\n