The Good and the Evil

     The great dualities of nature are a common theme in most religions. The theme is most often ‘good and evil’ but can take other forms (perhaps analogous to ‘good and evil‘) such as ‘day and night’, ‘light and dark’, ‘life and death, ‘order and chaos’. Often, the two opposing ideas are represented in stories about twins.
     Among the Fon people of Benin, Africa, there is the story of Lisa (the moon) and her twin Mawu (the sun) who combine to form an androgenous creator god (sun/moon, a story of light/dark).

     In Greece, the twin brothers Castor and Pollux describe a story of  ’immortality (life) and death‘ and become the two brightest stars in the constellation of Gemini. Apollo and Artemis are also Greek twins, Apollo becoming the sun god, Artemis, the moon goddess. Romulus and Remus were twins, children of a mortal mother and Mars, the god of war. In the end, Remus is killed by Romulus (life and death) who founds the city of Rome.

     In Zoroastrianism, the twins Ahura Mazda and Ahriman symbolize good and evil, respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

     In the Mayan culture, the story of  ’hero twins’ was a theme that occurred not once but twice, the first set of twins dying in their contest against evil, the second set, outwitting their evil foes and ascending to the heavens to become sun and moon. 
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The Navajo of the American Southwest relate the story of 2 boys raised as twins who flee an evil monster and go on a quest to find their fathers (ie god or good), Sun God and Water God.