“VEWORWOR” (BIRTH RITUAL FOR TWINS) and “VENORVIZE (TWINS SPECIAL POT) RITUAL.
The birth of twins among the Ewe people is believed to be an omen and a sacred happening. And for that matter twins are highly revered and a special reverence ritual is performed for the Twins, the spirit of the twins and their Parents.
Ewe people believe that twins have a mystically duality with a joint soul and it has a spiritual significance which can bring success, abundance and fertility.
It therefore brings good omen for those who perform this ritual and can also bring bad omen if the rituals are not performed for the Twin spirits.
A Twin in Ewe is referred to as “VENORVI” and the plural “Twins” is “VENORVIWO”. “VE” is abbreviating the word “EVE” which means “TWO” to signify TWINS.
If the twins are all Males then the eldest is called ATSU and the youngest ESTEY.
If they are all Females then the eldest is called EYI and the youngest ETSA.
If they are one Male and the other Female then the Male is called “ATSU” and the Female is called ATSUPI.
The Child that follows the Twins be it Male or Female is called “DOE”.
And then the Male child that follows the DOE is called “DOTSEY” but the Female Child after DOE is either “DOEPI” or “DOEWOE”.
The “BIRTH OF TWINS RITUAL” is an elaborate ritual which has an interesting process and take a couple of days.
The first item to buy is the VENORVIZE (Twins Pot) which involves 4 sets of Pots, Two Big ones, each for a twin and it keeps the sacred water which has some specific herbs in it. It is deemed a “holy water” of a kind.
And then the 2 small pots are used to keep cowries and coins to signify money.
Just had the rare privilege to meet this beautiful ritual being performed for a Friend in my area this morning and I made this video and took this pictures. He has Twins about 6 years old and I was given the permission to make the video
Just don’t tell them I shared it with you ooo.
I hear the Ritual begun yesterday and the Father and the Mother of the twins were locked in a room overnight according to a process in the ritual known as “AMEDEDEXO”. This literally means “keeping somebody in a room” and a similar process is done as part of the rituals of making a Chief.
So the Father and the Mother of the Twins were locked up in a room yesterday before the actual ritual begun this morning.
This morning they were made to go round the building for 4 times and then they were laid on a Mat. The Wife(Mother of Twins) would sit in the middle of the Husband(Father of twins) and another Man who would act as a Jealous Lover and would eventually hand over the Wife to the Husband and then shave the Man.
The Brother of the Father of the twins acted as the Jealous Lover.
And then a lot of food was cooked for the Twin spirits which they shared with the Parents as part of the rituals. And then an ADEKPE” which means “HUNTING WHISTLE” was used which is something I am interested in learning more about.
We the spectators also had some of the food to take a bite of and they say it brings blessings and fertility to also give birth to twins.
It’s was an intriguing storyline from start to finish and a beautiful culture with a lot or comic relief from those around. I hear the comic relief is part of the culture.
It was a whole process of interacting and eating with the spirits and we need to make this culture attractive and normal.
I’d want to explain the entire process to you but then I need to research more into it and come up with a well structured Article or video.
Just wanted to share this videos with you and I ended up writing a whole notebook. Sorry for the stress!!! Medekuku!!!
Note; I am not a Historian! Just learning and sharing with my friends.
#Akpenami
#TwinsCoronation
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