Sacrificial Twins in The Old Yoruba Kingdom - Myth or Reality?

I have noticed, very recently, a few revisionists online claiming that the sacrifice of twins was a common practice among the Yoruba people during the Old Kingdom. I have said it before, and I will say it again: Yoruba people never engaged in the practice of sacrificing twins. But whoever is claiming otherwise is grossly misinformed; because, such an individual knows nothing about the Yoruba metaphysical thought process. Let us look at the Yoruba metaphysical thought process to put this argument to rest once and for all.

According to the Yoruba metaphysical thought process, our world is a chaotic market place (Aye loja) – chaos theory, created on the binary fortune of good and the misfortune of evil (Tibi tire la da ile aye) – binary theory, where only good character (IWA PELE) brings you closer to good fortune. The Yoruba understand the principle of harmonious binary opposites, and they regard twins as the perfect harmonious duality in human form (i.e., perfect “two truths”). There is nothing superficial, and I repeat, there is nothing superficial about this philosophical concept. It was this neat philosophical concept that led to the development of IFA or I Ching, which later morphed into binary code theory.

The Yoruba people look upon twins with such high veneration, much so, that twins are regarded as pseudo-orisha, Neteru or god in the Yoruba pantheon (Orisa Ibeji). In fact, the thesis that the Efik of Calabar were twin’s killers should be met with the antithesis of the Yoruba godly view of the twins, which is that twins are semi-deity in the Yoruba pantheon (i.e. Orisa Ibeji) - I strongly question Mary Slessor's account of twin's sacrifice among the Efik group of Calabar; this, I call a "missionary propaganda campaign." Anyway, how could twins be sacrificial and idolized at the same time? The answer is that twins are highly venerated in the Yoruba culture; so much so, that animals are often sacrificed to welcome their birth - twins were never sacrificed.

In conclusion, every culture of the world that sacrificed twins in antiquity did it for the same reason that many other cultures venerated them. That is, twins were regarded as perfect “two truths”, and thus were seen as the perfect harmonious duality in human form (Gerald Massey, natural genesis) - harmonious duality, they all believed, permeated our reality.

The Tale of the Two Cusha Dwipas and Du Bois's Misconception

When we made a serious inquiry into the origin and history of ancient nations, we found out that there were two lands of Ethiopia in the ancient times. There was Ethiopia of the East, also known as Cusha Dwipa within (I.e., Indus Valley), and there was Ethiopia of the West, also known as Cusha Dwipa without (I.e. Nile Valley). It is not necessary to talk about the intimate cultural and spiritual relations that existed between the two lands in antiquity for those are already old and well-known (see my essay “The Similarities Between Eastern and Western Kush”); however, it is necessary to examine and talk about the supposed common origin of the inhabitants of the two lands (i.e. Cusha Dwipa within and Cusha Dwipa without). The big question is whether the Nile Valley Civilization borrowed from the Indus Valley Civilization or vice versa.

There are positive, not necessarily accurate or even convincing, historical records of ancient Africans (Cushites) from the Horn of Africa (i.e. Nile Valley) having come to the Indus Valley. In the Greek mythology, Bacchus (i.e. Dionysus), the Ethiopian god was said to have conquered and established a colony in India – Bacchus was an imaginary personage, whom many people in the esoteric circle believe personifies the sun; so, this idle story of Bacchus may not qualify as a positive historical record. According to the Puranas of the Indian Scriptures, the ancient rulers of the Cusha Dwipas were said to be men of Meru or Meroe – Meroe was the ancient name for Sudan. The Puranas account is obviously a more positive historical record.

Conversely, there are other historical records that show how the colonies of Indus Valley (i.e. India) passed to the Horn of Africa (i.e., Nile Valley). One in particular was the Puranas of the Indian scriptures which states that the ancient Indians ruled over the whole of Indus Valley before moving west to the Horn of Africa.  Some historians, ancient and modern, bought into this “out of India” hypothesis. They argued that the first waves of shepherds who migrated into the Nile Valley region were ancient Indians. In his book “Anacalypsis,” Godfrey Higgins alluded to the fact that the original Phoenicians were Africoid people who left their native country in the Indus Valley to settle near the Assyrian Lake, and the extensive district between the Tigris and Euphrates, now called Palestine. The word “Palestine,” he opined, was derived from Pallisthan, an Indian word that means the seat of the Pallis or Shepherds – Palli, in Indian, means Shepherd.  Thus, the Indian origin of the word “Palestine” was taken as a proof of the “out of India" hypothesis.

One of the staunch proponents of the “out of India” or should I say “Out of Southern Asia” hypothesis was W.E.B Du Bois. In his book “The Negro,” Du Bois states "from the center in Southern Asia primitive human beings began to differentiate in two directions. Toward the South appeared the primitive Africoid people, long-headed and with flattened hair follicle. He spread along the Southern Asia and passed over into Africa, where he survives today as the reddish dwarfs of the center and the Bushmen of South Africa." Du Bois and many European scholars of his day actually thought that the anatomical modern man originated from Southern Asia. According to them, since the fossil records had shown that the first anatomical modern man (AMM) was black; then, the first AMM had to be a “black Asiatic” - an erroneous assumption that has been disproven by the modern DNA test that shows that the first AMM actually came from Africa, not from Southern Asia as originally thought.

The “out of Southern Asia” hypothesis that was erroneously popularized by Du Bois among the black psuedo-scholars here in the United States was later adopted by many people in the black "spiritually conscious" communities. For example, the Moorish Science Temple, founded by Noble Drew Ali; Nuwaubian nation and the Nation of Islam. It is not uncommon, even today, to see members of the aforementioned communities adhering to the "out of Southern Asia" hypothesis and the erroneous concept of "The Black Asiatic." I must say that Du Bois was accurate in so many other areas, but on the “out of southern Asia” hypothesis, science proved him wrong. This is not a critique of the man, but rather an examination of his misconception and the origin of the misnomer “The Black Asiatic."

References:

Drusilla Dunjee: "The wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire."

Godfrey Higgins: "Anacalypsis - Vol.I & II."

W.E.B Du Bois: "The Negro."