Growing up as my grandma’s most stubborn and inquisitive grandchild had me curious and always questioning our traditions. One of my findings I’ll like to share with you today is about twins and their journey to become the most scared duo in our community.
It all started when the first twin was born, confused were the elders because they believe its only animals who give birth to pairs and therefore giving birth to twins was an anomaly so they went to the chief priest for answers, the chief priest who is believe to be the mouthpiece of the gods confirmed the anomaly twins caused and ordered all twins to be killed, sent to the forest to perish or sent back to the river gods. Mothers found it difficult to have their babies taken from them after going through the pain of labor so they went back to the chief priest to beg the gods on their behalf to find another way. This was fruitful, it was agreed that the parents can only keep one of the twins thus the other would be sent away. Time passed and the parents especially women realized how difficult it was to sacrifice a baby or choose between two babies so they went back to the chief priest and after persuading the gods, they finally agreed that both twins can be kept by parents on conditions that they perform yearly rituals for them. After everything twins had to go through before they were fully accepted to be a part of the community, they were seen to be victories because they fought a battle of injustice and won and because of that, they were made to only wear white clothes but now things have changed therefore it’s not always that you see them wear whites but at occasions like funerals where people wear black and red twins go contrary to the dress code and wear white.
It’s surprising how tables have turned and twins are celebrated and believed to bring fortune and blessing to the parents unlike when they seem to be a curse to them.
Haajianye or hiaajiatse is the name given to the mothers and fathers of twins these simply means “mother and father of twins” respectively. The parents of the twins and the twins are given a special charm bracelet called “abakle” to protect and as a symbol of holiness.
NAMING SYSTEM FOR TWINS
Since we believe that twins are holy beings, they don’t follow the normal naming patterns no matter the clan they are from. Sometimes you have two male set of twins, female sets or a male and female twin. In the case where there is a male/female set, the set is referred to as “Taki na nta”
Male set of twins – Akwete and Akuete
Female set – Akwele and Akworkor
Male and Female – Oko and Akwele
Once twins are conceived, they change the naming patterns even for their siblings that follows them. In the community, there is a systematic naming pattern based on the clan names. The third born after a set of twins is Tawiah and Ago and Abam being the 4th and 5th respectively. And if the third and fourth are also twins they take the twin names and Tawiah is added to it.