In a sea of duplicate facial features, the sleepy town of Igbo-Ora in Nigeria’s southwest Oyo state came alive over the weekend with laughter, music, and celebration at the annual Twins Festival.
The festival featured a procession of twins of various ages, parading in pairs, taking photos, dressed in matching clothes and accompanied by drummers and dancers.
Twins are common in the Yoruba ethnic group that dominates southwest Nigeria.
But even among Yoruba people, Igbo-Ora is considered exceptional, with at least one twin birth in every family.
Locals believe the high rate of twin births is linked to okra leaf and amala, a local dish made from yam and cassava flour.
