Si Stefy, non so se è quello a cui ti riferivi, ma ho trovato questi riferimenti (ho tradotto solo il primo paragrafo che parlava del camaleonte e di altri animali), ma ho allegato tutto il capitolo (mi sembra interessante) ed anche il link con tutto la "bibbia" delle credenze tribali tradizionali.
Buona lettura
Andrea
Africa tradizionale : prospettiva religiosa del “discorso dell’Areopago”
In questo discorso ad Atene, (chiamato “il discorso dell’Areopago”) Paolo interpretò il concetto di Dio presso i non-Ebrei in una luce positiva.
…omissis…
6. RITORNO ALLA VITA DOPO LA MORTE
- «e di ciò egli diede assicurazione a tutti gli uomini facendolo risorgere dai morti» (v. 31b)
In molte società Africane la morte degli esseri umani non era concepita fin dagli inizi dei tempi. Secondo le credenze di molte tribu, l’uomo aveva l’opzione di scegliere tra la morte o l’immortalità, ma, in qualche maniera, i messaggeri distorsero il messaggio o non arrivarono in tempo per dare a Dio la risposta dell’umanità, che voleva vivere in eterno. Alcuni animali erano identificati come portatori di simili importantissimi messaggi. Tra tutti gli animali quelli menzionati più spesso includono: la tartaruga, il cane, la iena, la lucertola, il gatto, il camaleonte, la lepre, la talpa, etc… Per errore la morte era stata la prima scelta degli uomini nello “stato primordiale” di esistenza e per questa ragione ogni persona deve morire. La morte perciò è una caratteristica permanente dell’uomo.
6. RETURN TO LIFE AFTER DEATH
- «and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead.» (v. 31b)
In many African societies death of human beings was not intended from the very beginning. According to many tribes, man had the option to choose either death or immortality but, somehow, the messengers either distorted the message or did not arrive in time to give God the reply from humanity wishing to live for ever. Some animals are identified as bearers of this all-important message. Among the animals most often mentioned include: tortoise, dog, hyena, lizard, cat, chameleon, hare, mole, etc. In error death was man's first choice in the "primordial state" of existence and for this reason every person must die. Death is, therefore, a permanent feature with man.
In the African worldview, death is not conceived as the end of life. Life has really no end, a person changes from one form of existence to another. There is no death in the sense of a separation from the close family members or the tribal community. Life is conceived as cyclic, not linear; it is eternal, a process that continually moves from the realm of spirit to that of "history" and vice versa. A person in his old age with many prosperous children is considered to have a good life. At his death, he joins the ancestors, undergoing a transition from the state of mortality to that of ancestral immortality. It is a movement from life to life.(67)There is strict continuity in the transition. According to P. Paris, the ancestors retain their moral character, social status and all family consciousness.(68)
The process by which the dead return to the "historical" world and live in a normal bodily form is called reincarnation, that is, taking flesh again. There could be many forms of it among different African societies.
Among the Igbo people two forms are distinguished. One form is called igba-nje. The person who returns to life is called ogbanje (repeater). This generally applies only to children. It is believed that these children are in league and their interest is to torment their parents. They allow themselves to be born and then they die before the reach the age of two. They die and then re-enter the womb to be born again. To stop the repetition of this phenomenon, there is need to perform a religious ritual called ibo iyi uwa (to unearth and break the instrument of the covenant between a particular child and the rest of the children in the group of ogbanje).
Another form of reincarnation is ino uwa. This is return of a happy person after death to a cherished family where he or she is reborn as a baby. It is frequently said that old parents at death return as grand children to their families. But the right to return does not depend on the dead. It is an outcome of the encounter with the Creator after death. In the final analysis it is God who permits who should stay forever in the spirit world or who may reincarnate. Even though to remain in the spirit world and be revered as an ancestor is a prestigious thing, most people would prefer to return to earth and live among their relatives. Metuh says that an Igbo would do anything to make sure that he is allowed to return and that refusal to be allowed to reincarnate is considered a retribution for sins committed during one's life-time or even previous existence.(69)
It is not always easy to explain the nature of the ancestor who returns to his family. He dwells in the spirit land and, at the same time, lives as a child among his beloved family members. He may even reincarnate in more than one family. In the believers view, it is not strange that a spirit can be ubiquitous. This ability to be in more than one place at a time is one of the characteristics of the resurrected body in the Bible. The follower of African traditional religion could find in the concept of ino-uwa a stepping stone to understanding the Judaeo-Christian notion of the resurrection.