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...(two individuals born together and derived from two separate eggs and two separate sperm), true and pseudo-hermaphrodites (tyetemousotew), and albinos (yefegew). (1) While identical twins are recognized being different from fraternal ones because of their seemingly identical physical appearance and because they are always of the same sex, they are not viewed differently from their fraternal counterparts in terms of cultural belief and practice. (2)
The Bamana and Maninka are well aware that twins are often born prematurely, and that when born at term are often smaller than singleton infants. This recognition of higher rates of prematurity and low birth rates and their association with higher infant mortality no doubt contributed to the elaboration of beliefs and practices favoring twin survival. For among the Bamana and Maninka, twins are accorded a privileged status that provides them and their parents with greater than usual access to a variety of resources. Such access is not extended to hermaphrodites, pseudo-hermaphrodites, and albinos, who are also considered twin beings. Unlike twins--regarded as extraordinary beings with unusual powers who are a gift from the supreme deity (Pemba, N'gala)--individuals affected by these three pathologies are believed to be the result of behavioral departures from societal norms, and thus are viewed with ambivalence and sometimes feared because of their powers.
The basis for considering these four distinct groups of individuals as twins is Bamanaya, a corpus of essential spiritual and cosmological beliefs and a mode of living that define someone as Bamana or Maninka. To embrace Bamanaya is to believe in the centrality in one's life of nyama ('vital life force, energy, power') and boliw (sg. boli; 'ritual objects which are regularly given blood sacrifices'). Boliw are great reservoirs of nyama, and their powers are increased and renewed through regular sacrifices. However, it is in the legend of creation and in its principal deity, Faro, that the duality of human nature (good and bad, male and female, strong and weak) and the concept of twinning are both elaborated and codified for the spiritual belief system that is at the heart of Bamanaya.
TWINS, HERMAPHRODITES, ALBINOS, AND THE LEGEND OF CREATION
There are two major variants of the Bamana legend of creation, with regional differences within them. The legend in the southern region is depersonalized compared to its analog in the north (Paques 1954). While the southern legend revolves around nonhuman forces, that in the north is centered on supernatural personalities embodying known human virtues and vices (de Ganay 1949; Dieterlen 1950:1-55; Zahan 1963a:116-20, 1974:1-6). It is within the context of this northern Bamana creation narrative that societal values, attitudes, and practices concerning twins, hermaphrodites, pseudo-hermaphrodites, and albinos are given metaphysical importance and historical legitimacy.
Zahan (1974:1-6) summarized this northern creation legend beginning with belief in a supreme being known as N'gala, Bemba, or Pemba. Closely associated with him and with the act of creation are several supernatural beings. Prominent among them are Mouso Koroni Koundye (or Nyale), Faro, and Ndomadyiri; from a certain perspective, these beings are also manifestations of God. During the first phase of creation, known as dali folo ('first putting in order, first creation'), the earth was naked, and God manifested himself as a grain (kise) known as Pemba. A balanza tree (Acacia albida) grew from this seed. But when it became fully grown, it withered and fell to the ground. Eventually, all that remained was a long beam of wood, known as Pembele. This wooden beam secreted mildew, which accumulated beneath it. Pembele mixed this mildew with his own saliva to create a new being, a female, known as Mouso Koroni Koundye ('little old woman with a white head').
Mouso Koroni then engaged in the creative process, engendering vegetables, animals, and human beings. At that time, the latter were immortal. Her creativity was characterized by disorder, confusion, and haste. This is excused by some Bamana on the grounds that she wanted to people the earth as rapidly as possible. Finally, Mouso Koroni planted the Pembele in the ground, and he became a tree once again. Men worshipped Pemba, now a balanza tree, the tree that eventually introduced them to death. Intime, men transferred their worship to Faro, another supernatural being and manifestation of God, who is the master of water.
Some Bamana believe that Mouso Koroni disappeared at this point, after spending a wretched life on earth authoring disorder. Others, however, believe that she continues to live, the personification of air, wind, and fire. She is also the "mother of magic," the first sorcerer, and as such is called by another name, Nyale.
Mouso Koroni was originally created with a soul that had two parts, a ni ('sour) and a dya ('double'), like those of all human beings. But at the time of her creation, while God gave her the ni, he entrusted its double, the dya, to Faro. Thus Mouso Koroni was incomplete from the moment of her creation. Nonetheless, she authored the first phrase of creation, characterized by prodigious growth and fertility. As Zahan (1974:5) notes, as Nyale, she gives strength to newborns and hastens the ripening of grain. She is the source of all ideas which have been or will be given to man and represents energy, activity, and desire. But she is also the source of all malice, misunderstanding, treachery, deviancy, and sorcery. She is all extravagant being, unruly, uncontrolled, and excessive. The hasty nature of Mouso Koroni's creative efforts resulted in defective beings. She is the author of numerous anomalies, both physical and psychological.
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In entrusting Mouso Koroni's dya to Faro, God in effect set limits on the amount of disorder in the world. He also deprived the primordial female being...
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