The Orisha Arts Blog

Ibeji Mazos

A few years ago, I started making mazos for the Ibejis are receiving a request from a Santero. Traditionally, the Ibejis, who are called Taiwo ('first to taste the world") and Kehinde ("he or she that comes behind") do not have eleke or bead patterns for them. So, I devised a couple of different styles of Ibeji mazo that incorporated bead sections for each of the orishas associated with the rearing and custody of the divine twins. So I devised a mazo that had a section for Shango, Oya, Obatala, Yemaya and Oshun, and the tassel belonged to Elegua:

When I make mazos for the Ibejis I make them as a set of 2 or a set of 4 - 2 for the soperas/vessels and 2 to be worn by the twin dolls/agboran:

The majority of the Ibeji mazos that I make use just Yemaya and Shango bead patterns, the caretakers an custodians of the twins. I often make the Yemaya sections in the same camino/road as the olorisha's Yemaya, if the person is a priest.

Here's a recent set on the Ibeji soperas (with Idowu's tinaja in the middle, waiting for his mazito to be made!):

I am now beginning to film the pieces that I make for other people so that I have a further visual library and catalog of the beadwork I produce. Here's the short Ibeji mazito vid.

These mazitos are fun to make, and if you wish to discuss them or place an order, you can always visit olorishas.com or email me at olorishas @ gmail.com (take out the spaces)

Keywords: Jimaguas, yoruba, santeria, ileke, ifa taiwo, keyinde, ideu, eleke beadwork lucumi orishas orichas ochas