Bedik reincarnation tool

I went to the tiny Bedik tribe in remote southeast Senegal to learn about their myths and dreams. In the village of Iwol, chief Jean Keita told me about a special instrument they used to tell if a person has come back from the dead as a baby. 

The tiny Bedik tribe has a small round instrument that tells if the new born is a reincarnation of a deceased relative. Bedik tribe, Senegal,  Africa

Chief Jean Baptiste Keita: 

I myself had a dream about a dead ancestor coming back into my family. 

My dead father come to me in a dream and talked with me.  Some days after the dream, my wife delivered a baby.  When the baby was born, he started crying.  Crying.  Crying. 

We saw the baby is not ill, but he’s crying. What can be the cause of that?   

In our village we have this small round instrument, maybe something like a small wheel. When we put that instrument on the wall, if it ever adheres, if it gets stuck when it is thrown against the wall, it means the dead parent, the dead person has come back.  If ever it falls down, it means it’s not him.

So we took that instrument, threw it against the wall.

It stuck.

Journal thoughts:

Interesting that the Bedik use a circular instrument to determine whether the new born is a deceased relative. I immediately thought of the serpent which in some myths forms a circle as it eats its own tail thus representing rebirth, reincarnation.