HOME      Library / Archives      Activities/Groups      Documents / Research      Language Courses       Links     About us

Why the chameleon?

The chameleon is an ambivalent animal in many African cultures. Here in Zambia it is often feared. Some people think it transmits leprosy. In some church songs it is held in disdain for failing to show its true colour. It walks forward and backward at the same time. In some Zambian myths the chameleon does not lay eggs like other reptiles, but becomes pregnant like human beings. The chameleon avoids our neat categories. It is different.

The chameleon is avoided in Zambia. But it is not killed. There are ancient stories about the sacredness of the chameleon, which we find all over Africa. A Chewa myth tells us that God had entrusted the chameleon with the message of life for human beings, while the gecko was sent out with the message of death. God sent out the chameleon first, and only after some time released the gecko. Still the gecko won the race and since then bad news travels faster than the good news. Human beings remain marked by death more than they are marked by life. The chameleon came too late. But it's not  too late to listen to its message.

Like the chameleon much of African religion has been despised, feared or ignored. Still it comes back deep down, because its message of life has not yet fully been heard. African religion comes back in ever different colours,  adapted to different times and seasons and backgrounds, sometimes ambivalent, and often moving out of our neat categories and concepts. The chameleon reminds us to move beyond our ready made answers.

bring me back...