like other groups in the area, speak a Central
African Bantu language, Kinyrwanda or Kirundi,
depending on whether one is in present-day
Rwanda or Burundi. Within the language, the
folklore, myths, proverbs, poetry, and parables are
all important in teaching the community spiritual,
ethical, and moral standards and understandings.
Many of the stories told are said to have come
from a mythical king named Gihanga. This king
also may have been an ancient famed griot, one
who has a kingly status as an ancestor because of
the importance of the oral record in the Tutsi tra-
dition, as in all African traditions and cultures.
The creator or high God of the Tutsi is called
Imaana. This God has the power to grant life,
death, and wealth, and the kings of the Tutsi share
in the power because they are living or human
manifestations of the divine. Also important for
the Tutsi are the ancestors because it is they who
will act as intermediaries between humans and the
divine. CalledAbazimaby the Tutsi, the ancestors
act as intermediaries and messengers to Imaana.
Humans must honor the ancestors and bring
offerings to them to remain in their favor.
Misfortune can be attributed to dishonor of the
ancestors or dishonor to themselves because they
represent their ancestors.
The Tutsi creation myth begins with an original
couple who lived in paradise. This original pair,
however, was sterile, so they asked God for help in
having a child. God then mixed saliva with clay in
a pot and made a small human figure. The pot
symbolized the womb of the woman, and then
God ordered the woman to stir and pour milk into
the pot every day for 9 months. She did this, and
in 9 months, the small human figure had grown
limbs; she then pulled the new human being out of
the pot, and she now had a child. This is a sym-
bolic story meant to illustrate the process of a
woman’s pregnancy and childbirth. Further, this
story also illustrates the woman’s intimate connec-
tion to the divine and her knowledge of the mys-
teries of life.
Death, like birth, is important to the spiritual
and religious understandings of the Tutsi. At
birth, Tutsi children are taken through a naming
ceremony that proclaims the name of the child to
God, the ancestors, the living, and the yet unborn.
In death, the community and family members
offer prayers and mourn for a short period after
the death and funeral. During this period, the
close family members avoid work and sex to mark
their mourning and loss of a loved one. At the end
of the mourning period, the family members and
community come together for a feast to celebrate
transition of life.Paul H.L.EasterlingSeealsoBaganda; Batwa; ShonaFurther Readings
Asante, M. K. (2007).The History of Africa. London:
Routledge.
Twagiliimana, A. (1997).Hutu and Tutsi. New York:
Rosen.TWA
SeeBATWA
TWINS
Twins are two babies who are born together.
Arthur discovered that twins are the clones of
nature, each descended from the symmetrical
splitting of a single fertilized egg into cells that
contain the identical sequence of even tinier DNA
molecules. There are two types of twins: identical
twins and fraternal twins. Identical twins are
genetically identical.
In many cultures, including Africa, the birth of
twins is viewed as an unnatural occurrence. The
birth of twins is a bad omen. In some cultures,
they are believed to cause misfortune, sickness, or
death in the family, and some believe that they
should be eliminated at birth. However, in other
societies, that was not the case.
There are several myths that African people hold
about twins. Although some still hold on to the
beliefs, other beliefs have disappeared over time.
There is a belief that twins are dangerous. In Shona
culture, twins are calledmanyambiri(“the two”),676 Twins