Stories about a spider-god, Anansi or Ananse, were first told in Ghana by the Ashanti people. They were not written down but recounted from generation to generation. Gradually the stories grew and spread across Ghana and then all around West Africa. In Ghana they are called “Anansesem” meaning spider tales.
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.
Anansi is one of the most popular of the animal tricksters in the mythology of West Africa, and is often called Kwaku or Kweku Ananse. Kweku means Wednesday, the day the spider-god’s soul first appeared. In some stories Anansi is the son of Nyame, the sky god, who becomes so annoyed with his son’s mischief and trickery that he turns him into a spider.
Some West African stories tell that Anansi was the creator of the world. In many stories, such as ours, he is a go-between for the humans and the sky god, Nyame.
As the stories spread across the sea to the West Indies, the tales became the Nancy stories and then became Aunt Nancy in the Southern United States, half spider, half woman who had power over the other creatures.
