Anansi is an African folktale character. He often takes the shape of a spider and is considered to be the spirit of all knowledge of stories. He is also one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.
He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man.
The Anansi tales originated from the Ashanti people of present-day Ghana. The word Ananse is Akan and means "spider". They later spread to other Akan groups and then to the West Indies, Suriname, Sierra Leone (where they were introduced by Jamaican Maroons) and the Netherlands Antilles. On Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, he is known as Kompa Nanzi, and his wife as Shi Maria.
Anansi is depicted in many different ways. Sometimes he looks like an ordinary spider, sometimes he is a spider wearing clothes or with a human face and sometimes he looks much more like a human with spider elements, such as eight legs.
The Anansi tales originated from the Ashanti people of present-day Ghana. The word Ananse is Akan and means "spider". They later spread to other Akan groups and then to the West Indies, Suriname, Sierra Leone (where they were introduced by Jamaican Maroons) and the Netherlands Antilles. On Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, he is known as Kompa Nanzi, and his wife as Shi Maria.
Anansi is depicted in many different ways. Sometimes he looks like an ordinary spider, sometimes he is a spider wearing clothes or with a human face and sometimes he looks much more like a human with spider elements, such as eight legs.
In Western African tradition, there is no deity that is better known than the shape-shifting spider-trickster, ANANSI, the spider god and the owner of all stories! Originally coming off as a creator god in his earliest days, he evolved over time to be widely known as a crafty and cunning trickster who could bamboozle and fool other animals and humans, usually in sly and witty ways.
Though he usually was able to get whatever it was that he wanted through elaborate ruses, once in a great while, his trickery would backfire upon him, leaving HIM to be the object of a lesson in life!
Stories of Anansi, called Anansesem ("spider tales"), exist around most West African nations and he is also widely known in the West Indies, where his stories traveled with unfortunate slaves who brought his legends with them on the horrible journey. It is unclear whether his original form was spider or human though he is represented as taking spider form whenever he gets into trouble, which allows him to escape any consequences! Even today in modern Ghana, generations of children grow up with the many humorous and fantastical cautionary tales and funny fables of the wacky, wild and mostly-wise Anansi!
