Anansi

Anansi is one of the most important and famous gods of west African lore. He is a trickster and a culture hero, who acts on behalf of Nyame (his father, the sky god) and brings rain to stop fires and performing other duties for him. His mother is Asase Ya. There are several mentions of Anansi's children. According to some myths his wife is known as Miss Anansi or Mistress Anansi. Eventually, Anansi was replaced by a chameleon.

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He is depicted in numerous forms: a spider, a human or combinations thereof.

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The Anansi legends are believed to have originated in the Ashanti tribe. They later spread to other Akan groups and then to Jamaica, Suriname, and the Netherlands Antilles. On Cura?ao, Aruba, and Bonaire he is known as Nanzi, and his wife as Shi Maria.

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West Africa: West Africa is the region of western Africa that is generally considered to include the countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, C?te d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. In addition, the region is sometimes consider...

Trickster: In the study of mythology, folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, human hero or anthropomorphic animal who breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously (for example, Loki) but usually with ultimately positive effects. Often, the rule-breaking takes the form o...

Culture hero: A culture hero is a mythological or historically-embellished hero specific to some group (cultural, ethnic, racial, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or discovery. A typical culture hero might be credited as the discoverer of fire, or agriculture, songs, tradition and religion...