Case file · Folklore / legend
Abiku, the child 'born to die'
In Yoruba belief (also among the Igbo and Ijo), an abiku is a spirit child who dies young and is reborn again and again to the same mother.
2004 CE · 7.02, 5.06 · status: legend
The account
A 2004 study of 1,695 women in Nigeria's Ondo and Ekiti states found that more than half believed in abiku children, and many favoured spiritual healing over medicine for them.
The sceptical view
The belief explains repeated infant deaths in spiritual terms, and studies note it can lead parents to choose spiritual healing over medicine.
Connections in the atlas
- Ezinma the ogbanje in 'Things Fall Apart'
- Abiku / ogbanje
- Popobawa
- Mami Wata