She said, “Their spirits will enter into your dreams and let it be known what they want. Then you must get it for them.”
Zagre is doubly blessed despite the responsibility of following their dreams directives. A 30-year-old mother of five, Zagre is raising her 3-year-old twin girls in Burkina Faso and her 13-year old twin boys. Burkina Faso is one of West Africa’s countries where twins are highly revered for their special powers. These include healing the sick, protecting against danger and predicting the future.
With its strong belief in the supernatural and majority-Muslim nation, twins are considered children of spirits. Twins are also considered special because their mothers were chosen to bear them. This deeply held belief stems from the time when scientists couldn’t explain how twins were created. Twins in West Africa are considered a curse.
“People were afraid about twins because they couldn’t explain why these children were given two instead of one,” Honorine Sawadogo (sociologist, government-run National Center for Scientific and Technological Research Burkina Faso) said.
Sawadogo, who conducted her doctoral research on twin mothers, stated that parents of twins would seek out witch doctors to help them. They would come up with rules to protect their children. Despite the fact that twins are scientifically explained, these beliefs and practices still persist today.
After giving birth to the twin sets, Zagre and Ousmane Nikiema visited a witch doctor. The parents did not receive any instructions for their boys. However, a witch doctor advised them that their daughters, Victorine Nikiema and Victoria Nikiema needed to ask for money at the side of the road, or risk being killed in the hands of a spirit.
Nikiema, who lives in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, said that if the witch doctor sees a spirit within the compound, he will have to take the children to the beg to stop the curse. They might not be killed by the spirit, but he will do some thing to them. He can either make them crazy or paralyzed.
Ouagadougou is home to identically dressed mothers and their twins, who can be seen sitting on the ground alongside the roads and begging. According to mothers, they are motivated by dreams and instructions from witch doctors, The Associated Press reported.
Visitors offer them gifts in return for blessings such as chickens, honey cakes, and seashells.
Marcelline Tapsoba (mother of twins aged 2 and 3 years old) said, “I bless people when we come and give them things. I also say may God heal you if someone is sick.”
Tapsoba, her children and other mothers were sitting on the ground at their usual spot in the city’s outskirts. They were surrounded by their twins and other mothers who were also begging for blessings.
Tapsoba stated that those who are blessed by her often come back weeks later to express gratitude for their financial or romantic success.
Similar scenes are seen in Ghana. Kasim Amadu, an entrepreneur, said that twins born in Ghana must be governed by the rules of the twins. He said that unhappy or wronged twins could cause harm to their parents.
Many cultures in West Africa treasure twins and soothsayers believe that they can increase their communication with the spirit realm through them. Philip Peek is a professor emeritus of Drew University in New Jersey, whose research covers folklore and African religion.
Peek is the editor for the book “Twins In African and Diaspora Cultures : Double Trouble, Twice Blessed”. He said that there has been a long-standing belief that twins are able to communicate better because of the bond formed in the womb. This allows them to connect with higher powers.
Peek stated that “they communicate intuitively and it is certain that the ability to do so in secular terms not just spiritual”
They are not universally accepted in every West African country.
According to Stevens Olusola Ajayi (a Christian missionary who saved 19 sets of twins from being killed), twins are considered evil by some residents of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Ajayi has been involved in this work since 1996. He brings the children to live with him and his family. He was able to bring six children home to their parents this year, which is his first attempt at arranging such family reunions.
Twins, even in countries that are favorable to them, can be exploited for financial gain. Sawadogo, a sociologist, stated that some mothers take children from their neighbors and pass them on to twins in order to make more money begging.
Being a parent to twins is hard work. Fati Yougma (27), Ouagadougou said that her twin daughters would beat her in dreams if Fati doesn’t follow their orders.
Yougma is still honored to be their mother, despite that.
