ANANSI
antagonistAnansi the spider is the great cunning hero of Akan oral tradition, in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. So central is he that the Ashanti call the whole body of their tales anansesem, the spider's stories. The most famous of them tells how Anansi bought the stories from Nyame, the sky god, by capturing Onini the python, Osebo the leopard, the Mmoboro hornets and the spirit Mmoatia: ever since, all tales belong to him. By turns shrewd, boastful, idle and brilliant, Anansi embodies the triumph of intelligence over force. With the Atlantic slave trade, his stories crossed the ocean in the memory of the captives: in Jamaica, where Anancy remains the central hero of Creole storytelling; across the anglophone Caribbean; in Suriname with the anansi-tori; and as far as the southern United States, where he becomes Aunt Nancy in Gullah narratives. For the enslaved, the spider who outwits the powerful became a figure of resistance and of cultural survival. Anansi is not the object of a cult: he belongs to the register of the tale, handed on at evening gatherings, and remains today one of the best-loved figures in the oral literatures of West Africa and the Caribbean.
Powers & Attributes
Role in the ROHO universe
Born of the convergence of the Breath of Air and the Soul, bearer of the original tales.
Sacred Mask
A spiderweb mask inlaid with black gems — a symbol of cunning and of the handing on of stories.
Era
6,000–5,000 BCE — Cycle of Tales and Speech
Words of the Spirit
“To face cunning and deceit, and learn to tell the true from the false amid the chaos.”
Frequently asked questions
Who is Anansi?
Anansi is the cunning spider of the Akan tales of Ghana, master of stories and a central figure of Ashanti oral tradition, in which the tales are called anansesem. Carried in the memory of the captives of the Atlantic slave trade, he became Anancy in Jamaica and a major hero of storytelling throughout the Caribbean — a symbol of cunning triumphing over force.
Is Anansi a god or a folktale hero?
Anansi belongs to the tale rather than to the cult. In Akan tradition he is not a deity one prays to, but a figure of the spoken word, linked to the sky god Nyame from whom he obtains the stories. Some accounts make him Nyame's son or messenger, but his true realm is the evening gathering, cunning and laughter.
How did Anansi reach the Caribbean?
His tales travelled with the Akan captives deported by the Atlantic slave trade. In Jamaica, hundreds of Anancy stories were collected from the early twentieth century onwards. He is found in Suriname with the anansi-tori, across the anglophone Caribbean, and as far as the southern United States under the name Aunt Nancy. Told at evening gatherings, he became a symbol of cunning and resistance for the enslaved.
Related spirits
Sources and references
- R. S. Rattray, Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales (1930)
- Martha Warren Beckwith, Jamaica Anansi Stories (1924)
- Robert D. Pelton, The Trickster in West Africa: A Study of Mythic Irony and Sacred Delight (1980)