ABSTRACT
Like so many of the Bantu, the BaVenda associate the origin of death with the chameleon. According to the Venda tradition the creator sent a millepede to go quickly to tell the people of the world that they would never die. On the way to deliver its message it saw a tutulwa tree and, feeling hungry, it wasted time eating the fruit. Meanwhile the slow hesitating chameleon was sent to tell the people that he was the messenger of death. The chameleon arrived first and delivered his bad news, and when the millepede finally arrived it was too late. After dreaming of anything unusual a MuVenda generally asks a nganga to interpret it for him, so that by sacrifice or magic he may avert the threatened calamity. A dream of beer portends trouble and is nearly always the forerunner of the death of the dreamer or one of his lineage.
