ibeji (twins) are two halves of one spirit, a spirit too massive to fit in one body, and liminal beings, half human, half deity, to be honored, even worshipped accordingly. The second twin specifically--the changeling and the trickster, less fascinated by the affairs of the world than the first--comes to earth with great reluctance and remains with greater effort, homesick for the spiritual realms. On the eve of their birth into physical bodies, this skeptical second twin says to the first, "Go out and see if the world is good. If it's good, stay there. If it's not, come back." The first twin (taiyewo (from the Yoruba to aiye wo, "to see and taste the world," shortened Taiye or Taiwo) obediently leaves the womb on his reconnaissance mission and likes the world enough to remain. Kehinde (from the Yoruba kehin de, "to arrive next"), on noting that his other half hasn't returned, sets out at his leisure to join his Taiyewo, deigning to assume human form. The Yoruba thus consider Kehinde the elder: born second, but wiser, so "older."
Taiye Selasi
Ghana Must Go, pp. 83-84
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