African Folk Tales Unit Study - How Anansi Came to Own All Tales

Originally credited with the creation of the world, Anansi has been transformed into a cultural founder hero. His exploits form cycles of popular stories and they are even relished as far away as the West Indies. Anansi is one of the most important legends 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 performs other duties for him. His mother is Asase Ya. He is depicted in numerous forms: a spider, a human, or combinations thereof. The Anansi legends are believed to have originated in the Ashanti tribe. They later spread to other Akan groups and then to the West Indies, Suriname, and the Netherlands Antilles. On Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire he is known as Nanzi, and his wife as Shi Maria. Anansi stories originated in Ghana, in Africa. The word Anansi is Akan and means spider. Kids enjoy discussing 'the moral behind the story' in this the 5th mini unit study in this series.