Madam Mythos



Africa

Anansi

As well as being sneaky, tricky, sly and crafty, he’s also a Creator God who made the sun and moon and hit upon the novel idea of day and night.
Rowan Allen
Godchecker.com

Origins

West Africa

Home

Africa, mostly

Alias

Aunt Nancy

The Legend (taken directly from mythencyclopedia.com)

"Anansi, the spider, is one of the most popular animal tricksters from West African mythology. Tricksters are mischievous figures who often oppose the will of the gods, resulting in some kind of misfortune for humans. Like many trickster figures, the wily Anansi can change his appearance to look like a human, a rabbit, a fox, or other animals.
West Africans originally considered Anansi to be the creator of the world. He often acted as a go-between for humans in their dealings with the sky god Nyame, and he supposedly persuaded Nyame to give both rain and the night to people. In most stories, however, Anansi is a crafty and cunning trickster who makes life more enjoyable for himself (or more difficult for others) by fooling humans, other animals, and even the gods themselves, often using his cleverness and knowledge of his victims' ways of thinking to trick them and achieve his purpose."

Physical Description

Anansi is typically depicted as a spider with the occassional odd human feature.