Ibeji’s Family Tree

About Ibeji →

Family

• Oshun(parent),Shango(parent)— Consort

  Shango and Oshun are husband and wife, and their union produced the Ibeji, the sacred twins who are venerated as orishas of childhood and duality.

Associated with

• Abiku

  In Yoruba tradition, twins are considered especially vulnerable to Abiku spirits. The Ibeji (divine twins) are invoked to protect twin children from being claimed by abiku companions in the spirit world.

• Olodumare

  Olodumare ordained that twins would be sacred beings in the world, conferring divine status upon the Ibeji. The supreme deity decreed that twin births carry special ashe and that families must honor the Ibeji with proper veneration.

• Ori

  The Ibeji share a unique ori bond in which the destinies of both twins are intertwined. In Yoruba belief, when one twin dies the surviving twin's ori remains connected to the deceased, requiring the ere ibeji figure to anchor the departed soul.

• Yemoja

  Yemoja is the grandmother of the Ibeji through her son Shango. The sacred twins are placed under Yemoja's ocean-wide protection, and their safe passage from the spirit world into mortal birth is entrusted to the great water mother.