Double blessing or trouble? Here’s how African communities handle twins

Temne, Sierra Leone

Among the Temne tribe of Sierra Leone, multiple births are welcome. Twins are considered to possess spiritual powers putting them in the same league as gods and spirits. Some of the things twins are believed to be capable of include killing people accused of being witches; ‘calling’ newborns from the spiritual world, resulting in pregnancy in some people; bringing riches, and even cause the death of a parent if their ritual is not performed properly.

It is also believed that a dead twin can communicate with their living sibling, and can either bring them joy or torment them.

After the birth of twins, a ritual is performed. It involves the placing of an anthill in the twin house and participants fill cups with rice flour, which they will use to create a trail from the twin house to the mother’s house and back.

The newborn twins are then carried cushioned in a rice fan or a calabash and move from house to house, where the twins are given dual gifts. They are then taken to a diviner, who determines whether they are in the world to stay or not. The same ritual is carried out when they have been weaned.

Annual rituals are also conducted for the twins, usually in the middle of the rain season and just before the harvest.

When one twin dies, the anthill that was placed in the twin house at birth is covered in white and rice flour is offered to the deceased before being poured on the ground before the twin house door.