Yoruba Culture

A lot of cultures in history and today believe that there is a spirit world linked with the living world and when one dies, the spirit of that individual will enter the spirit world. Some cultures have created objects for spirits to inhabit and treat them with great care so there is balance within both the spirit world and the living: the cycle of bringing tribute to these items gives while the spirits will return the favor. Without these objects, the death of person will not truly be honored in the group or even neglecting spirits will cause problems within the group as well.

To honor the dead of their ancestors, the Asmat in West Papua created spirit poles known as Bisj poles around the 1960’s. The Bisj poles--located in the Buepis village--have

In Nigeria, there is a high amount of twins being born possibly from a certain fruit that is eaten by Yoruba women. However, there is a higher mortality with twins and unfortunately a lot of twins have died. Even though the child may have entered into the spirit world, it was believed that the spirit of that child might still trouble the family (as well as future children) and even the village. The only way to please the dead child, the parents must have a carved twin figure called Ere Ibeji and give them create care by feeding it, dressing it, and giving them gifts as if the child is still alive. Once the twin figure is given great care every day, it is believed that balance will be restored to the family. Similar to the Bisj poles the Yoruba also honor their dead so they can let the spirit of the person who died can gain some way of peace. In return, the spirit can bring balance to the family and also to the

In the Baule culture, the spirit world to them like a parallel realm for spirits to live likes the living with a family and everything. Before the spirit enters into the living, it was believed that you were already married. This is a very important idea because if an individual is having problems trying to get a husband or wife or having problems with having children, it might because you did not please your spirit spouse. That is when a spirit spouse is created called a Blolo Bla (a spirit spouse for a man) or a Blolo Bian (a spirit spouse for a woman). Similar to the twin figures, they were treated with great care and with great care; they will let the individual’s human life go