Twins, Mysteries about them in Wimbum tribe

Princewill, a twin now in primary school. lost the twin brother while they were still babies

 

 

Wimbum is a tribe in Donga Mantung Division of North West Region of Cameroon. The first thing that comes to mind in Wimbum area when talking about twins is the question whether they have fixed them. When we were growing up, medicine men will say they treat headache, stomach ache, side pains, cough, children who cry at night, twins etc.

The popular names of medicine men who were experts in the fixing of twins in Wimbum were Pa Peter from Wat (Mbaa village), Pa Takwi and Pa Andrew Nfor both from Tang (Tabenken village). The Wimbum calendar has an eight day week and all major activities except going to church are fitted into this cycle. Every Wimbum village has its market and traditional rest days. On traditional rest days women do not work on their farms and traditional healers consult most of their patients. The rest days are called country Sundays in Pidgin English. Country means anything traditional for example country chop (local cuisine), country fashion (rituals), country fowl (local chicken), country medicine (traditional medicine) etc.

Common in the laboratories of traditional healers specialized in fixing twins is a central three–stone fire place, bamboo stools, small raffia bags, rattles, green leaves, bags made of snake skin or pelf of some animals, with bundles of feathers protruding from them, bundles of bones bound with leopard skin thongs, porcupine quills, clay pots, peace plants, calabashes, snail shells, cowries all stained as a result of smoke and soot with the sacrificial sprinklings of fowl’s blood and palm wine. These healers also all claimed they have medicine to protect the compound from evil spirits, fire burns and disasters.

Twin fixers or healers work with the same concentration of chemists. But are they true chemists? To treat twins, the healer in question would remove his country cap, fold his hands, closed his eyes and pray. After praying he would genuflect in the direction of the medicine which he arranged – ground herbs mixed with palm oil and a bamboo from fire rubbed with eucalyptus resin which produces aromatic smoke. After prayers he will put on his cap, and then will be ready to begin treatment.

The first set of twins who have been on waiting pew would come in front of the medicine, calabashes, rattles, herbs and shells. He will take some leaves tie on the twins necks, sprinkle palm wine and the herbs mixed with red palm oil over the twins, lick some of the medicine himself and let the twins lick from his palm and drink of the palm wine from snail shells. Again a small amount of black powder is poured on his palm, which he mixes with castor oil and let the twins lick some of it from his finger tip. He will use the remaining paste of this latter one to draw a black stripe on the stomach of the twins. The healer at this moment will go back to his mortar take ground herbs and mixed with red oil. Again he will take some of it on the tip of his index finger and let each of the twins lick. He then will wipe his hands on the legs of the twins and drink too from the snail shells. After this, he will shake the rattles above each twin’s head mumbling, then taking a hollow bamboo, will blow into each twin’s ear and the treatment is complete for the next set of twins to come in again.

There also exist single twins. They explain these are known from the time a child is born. When a child (single twin) is born, a diagonal line is seen over his shoulder and under the opposite armpit – just like a would be Fon (chief). Single twins come out of the womb with a sign on their bodies and the signs are what show they are single twins.

What if twins are not fixed? These healers say they might become dry, small and pale. They would give a lot of trouble, demanding all the time. Some can become fools. They also may just go one day and sleep and die (just go back i.e how they say it). Some can become fools. They just go back to another person. So the treatment or fixing of twins prevent them from becoming dry, small and pale, giving trouble, demanding all the time, becoming fools and going back.