# Why do some African Tribes (Ibo?) throw away twins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982 "2004-02-24T21:22:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/1 "2004-02-24T21:22:55Z")
We are reading a story in English, and I suppose that it may just be an elaboration, but it says that the Ibo tribe throws away twins into the “Evil Forest”. They are put into pots and tossed in, as children. Now if this is just something the author made up, sorry, but I think that it is true. The only thing is that he never tells why. Why is this? (story=Things Fall Apart… if it helps…) ---
**Author:** ![seaworthy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/2 "2004-02-24T21:28:15Z")
I read that God-awful book in 9th grade and I hated every minute of it. It sucked really bad. But IIRC, the tribe thought twins were evil freaks of nature and threw them in the woods to die. They thought they were evil spirits incarnate, so they killed them in order to deny the spirits their host body or something. I dunno. I don’t think the author made it up, though. I think it really happens/ed. ---
**Author:** ![Skwerl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Skwerl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skwerl)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/3 "2004-02-24T22:04:01Z")
There are some tribes that think things like that signal bad times for the tribe, so they get rid of the children. There was actually a show on the other night on the National Geographic Channel about a tribe like that. If a baby’s first tooth was on the top of the mouth, that was _menghi_ (I think that was how it’s pronounced), and the child was disposed of. Also, if a child is born to an unwed mother, that’s menghi. Even adolescent, childless women who injure their breasts are considered to have brought menghi upon the tribe, so they are outcast. Menghi brings about things like disease, drought, etc. That was one tribe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if others had similar beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/4 "2004-02-24T22:05:58Z")
[This site](http://www10.brinkster.com/utow/Stories/story002.htm) seems to lend credence to the story. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/5 "2004-02-25T00:52:28Z")
According to Mike Resnick’s [Kirinyaga](http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/sample/kirinyaga.html) The Kikuyu tribe believes that babys born breech are cursed and must be killed. The first baby of a multiple birth must be killed. > [@](#): > > “I have been sent here to evaluate the situation,” she replied, brushing an insect from her cheek and shifting her position on the ground. “A newborn child was killed. We would like to know why.” > > I shrugged. “It was killed because it was born with a terrible thahu upon it.” > > She frowned. “A thahu? What is that?” > > “A curse.” > > “Do you mean that it was deformed?” she asked. > > “It was not deformed.” > > “Then what was this curse that you refer to?” > > “It was born feetfirst,” I said. > > “That’s it?” she asked, surprised. “That’s the curse?” > > “Yes.” > > “It was murdered simply because it came out feetfirst?” > > “It is not murder to put a demon to death,” I explained patiently. “Our tradition tells us that a child born in this manner is actually a demon.” > > . . . > > “There is a woman in my village whose time is near,” continued the chief, “and all of the signs and omens point to the birth of twins. We have been taught that the firstborn must be killed, for one mother cannot produce two souls–but now Maintenance has forbidden it. What are we to do?” > > “We must kill the firstborn,” I said, “for it will be a demon.” Having read Cows, Pigs, Wars And Witches- The Riddles Of Culture by Marvin Harris, I’d guess these infanticide traditions actually aid the tribe in surviving. Though without knowing a lot more, I can’t say how. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/6 "2004-02-25T12:27:30Z")
Thanks so far everyone! This article, while I believe it to be fairly close to the facts, is not of much help because they only throw away the first baby. In the Ibo, they put the twins into a pot and throw them into the woods. Both of them. Although I do like the idea of the mother not being allowed to give birth to two souls, it still doesn’t seem like a very good explanation. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/7 "2004-02-25T14:25:38Z")
This is a total WAG, but certainly for a woman to have two young infants at the same time would be very difficult. Prolonged breastfeeding (prolonged in comparison to Western cultures, that is) reduces a woman’s fertility, allowing births to generally be spaced out; however, if twins are born, a woman has two mouths to feed (and if obtaining nutrition for herself is dicey, producing enough milk for two babies is probably also problematic) as well as two babies to care for, and in most hunter-gatherer societies, every pair of hands is needed. It’d be hard to do much with two babies strapped onto you. By the way, _Things Fall Apart_ is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read . . . ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-african-tribes-ibo-throw-away-twins/230982/8 "2004-02-25T16:34:51Z")
Strangely, I’ve always heard the opposite for the Ibo - that they had an extremely high preponderance of twins, and that twins were considered a good thing. I’ll see if I can find a cite…