World Mythology - Monday, March 10th - 2th Period

[atreideslioness]

Ghanima was perched, as usual, on the front of her desk as the students trailed into class.  "Good morning students, happy Monday.  Don't look quite so paranoid, there's no acting today, you're all safe from my mad whims.  Mostly.  Instead, today we are studying a Trickster that far outstrips any prank I could pull, Anansi."

"Anansi is a fine fellow, and admittedly one of my favorite gods," Ghanima said, "He is easily one of the most important characters of West African lore.  He is often depicted as 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.  Anansi stories are known as Anansesem to the Ashanti and Anansi-Tori to the Suriname.

Grinning, Ghanima hopped off her desk to begin wandering the rows of desks as she talked.  "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 whatever he chooses.  This makes for some entertaining escapades, and gets him into and out of a world of trouble."

"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."

"Many Anansi stories deal with him attempting to trick people into allowing him to steal food or money, or something else that could turn a profit, but our 'hero' doesn't always win!  It was not uncommon for a trick to backfire upon Anansi in some way or another."

"One of the very notable stories where Anansi himself was tricked, was when he tried to fight a tar baby after trying to steal food, but became stuck to it instead. The "tar-baby" tale appears in a variety of ethnic African folklore contexts. It is perhaps best known to Americans from the Brer Rabbit version, found in the Uncle Remus stories. These were derived from African-American folktales in the Southern United States. Ultimately this version was adapted and used in the 1946 live-action/animated Walt Disney movie Song of the South, which is an entire dissertation  on mythology, sociology, and American racism in and of itself.  We will not get into that here."

"Now, why is this figure so universal?" she asked,  "And why did so many African American folk tales recount his exploits, under one name or another? Anansi is the spirit of rebellion; he is able to overturn the social order; he can marry the King's daughter, create wealth out of thin air; baffle the Devil and cheat Death. Even if Anansi loses in one story, you know that he will overcome in the next. Anansi conveys a simple message --that freedom and dignity are worth fighting for, at any odds."

"Most cultures that have Anansi myths also have the story of how Anansi became King of All Stories, not just his own.  On your desks, you have a handout retelling how Anansi became the God of all Stories, wining that title from his father.  Please read it over, and we will discuss."

[OOC:  Please wait for the ever-tricksy OCD to go up!  Enjoy!]

Comments

Re: Discussion: To Be A Trickster

[atreideslioness]

"Do you think Anansi ever regretting any of his tricks or jokes? He doesn't seem to ever take the lessons he should be learning to heart."

Re: Discussion: To Be A Trickster

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I imagine it must be somewhat different, for a God. I wouldn't know, I've never been one. But when you're sitting at the top, I suppose when something backfires, you don't have much need to pull any lessons from it all in the end, so long as you're more careful going about it the next time around."