field is sown in presence of the twins; the plot is then said to be the
field of the twins. The mother of twins must sow her seed before any
person of the clan will sow his or hers.[83] These customs seem clearly
to imply a belief that twins and their mother possess a special power of
fertilising the seed. Among the Baganda of Central Africa twins were
supposed to be sent by Mukasa, the great god whose blessing on the crops
and on the people was ensured at an annual festival. The twins were
thought to be under the protection of the god, and they bore his name,
the boys being called Mukasa and the girls Namukasa. And a series of
customs observed by the parents of twins among the Baganda indicates in
the plainest manner a belief that they were endowed with a fertilising
virtue which extended, not only to the crops and the cattle, but also to
human beings. Thus the parents of twins were supposed to make people
fruitful by sprinkling them with a mixture of water and clay from pots,
of which each of the parents had one. Again, some time after the birth
the parents used to make a round of visits to relations and friends,
taking the twins with them. At every house they danced, the father
wearing a crown made from a certain creeper, and the mother wearing a
girdle of the same material. At these dances offerings were made to the
twins. These dances were most popular "because the people believed that
thereby they obtained a special blessing from the god Mukasa, who
favoured the parents of twins, and through them dispensed blessing
wherever they went." The persons whom the twins and their parents
honoured with a visit "thought that, not only they themselves would be
blessed and given children, but that their herds and crops also would be
multiplied." A ceremony performed by the father and mother of twins over
a flower of the plantain indicated in the plainest, if the grossest,
fashion the belief of the Baganda that parents of twins could magically
fertilise the plantains which form the staple food of the people. No
wonder, then, that among them a mother of twins is deemed a source of
blessing to the whole community, and that for some time after the birth
both she and the father were sacred and wore a distinctive dress to
prevent any one from touching them. The father, in particular, "could do
what he liked, because he was under the protection of the god"; for
example, he was free to enter anybody's garden and to take the produce
at