[4] They later spread to the West Indies, Suriname, Sierra Leone (where they were introduced by Jamaican Maroons) and the Netherlands Antilles; also Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire.

[11] Stories of Anansi became such a prominent and familiar part of Ashanti oral culture that they eventually encompassed many kinds of fables, evidenced by the work of R.S.

"[13] In similar fashion, oral tradition is what introduced Anansi tales to the rest of the world, especially the Caribbean, via the people that were enslaved during the Atlantic slave trade.

As historian Lawrence W. Levine argues in Black Culture and Consciousness, enslaved Africans in the New World devoted "the structure and message of their tales to the compulsions and needs of their present situation" (1977, 90).

The proverb is: "If yuh cyaan ketch Kwaku, yuh ketch him shut",[16] which refers to when Brah Dead (brother death or drybones), a personification of Death, was chasing Anansi to kill him; its meaning: The target of revenge and destruction, even killing, will be anyone very close to the intended, such as loved ones and family members.

[19]: 163–164  Anansi has effectively evolved beyond a mere trickster figure; the wealth of narratives and social influences have thus led to him being considered a classical hero.

Nyame tasks Anansi with four challenges in exchange for them: the capture of the python Onini, the hornets known as Mmoboro, the leopard Osebo, and the fairy Mmoatia.

Anansi brings them along with Ya Nsia to Nyame, and the deity assembles a meeting within his kingdom of his elders, the Kontire and Akwam chiefs, the Adontem general of his army, the Gyase, the Oyoko, Ankobea, and the leader of his rear-guard, named Kyidom.

[33] Another common version of this folktale portrays Mmoatia as a relatively solitary Fairy capable of turning invisible,[34] while another does not require Anansi to capture Python.

As a result, Anansi accidentally breaks the pot in anger at his son mocking him, causing all the wisdom inside to scatter as rain washes it away into rivers.

Eventually the water was drained and the spirits gave Anansi his share of food and restored his skull, warning him not to sing the song again or it would fall off.

The Sky-God asked if Anansi was certain and the Spider answered that he would be able to as long as he was given the items he requested to help him, namely medicine to make guns as well as bullets.

Anansi spared no time and went to the others in the village for a favor and found Odwan the Sheep, Okra the Cat, Okraman the Dog, Akoko the Fowl, and Aberekyie the Goat.

He then presented an offering to help pay for the funeral: six peredwan packets of gold dust, a velvet pillow, two cloths, a wool blanket, shell money (to barter with ghosts), a sheep, and more palm-wine.

Okraman and Anansi had reached the half-way point on their journey when the two became exhausted, and the Dog recommended they both rest for a moment and drink some of the water they'd prepared.

Yet, Anansi's action would prove to be a mistake, for he immediately found himself trapped between the Crocodile's jaws when he clasped the Spider unexpectedly.

Anansi shares similarities with the trickster figure of Br'er Rabbit, who originated from the folklore of the Bantu-speaking peoples of south and central Africa.

Enslaved Africans brought the Br'er Rabbit tales to the New World, which, like the Anansi stories, depict a physically small and vulnerable creature using his cunning intelligence to prevail over larger animals.

However, although Br'er Rabbit stories are told in the Caribbean, especially in the French-speaking islands (where he is named "Compair Lapin"), he is predominantly an African-American folk hero.

The rabbit as a trickster is also in Akan versions as well and a Bantu origin doesn't have to be the main source, at least for the Caribbean where the Akan people are more dominant than in the U.S.[39] His tales entered the mainstream through the work of the American journalist Joel Chandler Harris, who wrote several collections of Uncle Remus stories between 1870 and 1906[12] One of the times Anansi himself was tricked was when he tried to fight a tar baby after trying to steal food, but became stuck to it instead.

It is a tale well known from a version involving Br'er Rabbit, found in the Uncle Remus stories and adapted and used in the 1946 live-action/animated Walt Disney movie Song of the South.

The Native American trickster rabbit appears to have resonated with African-American story-tellers and was adopted as a cognate of the Anansi character with which they were familiar.

[41] Other authorities state the widespread existence of similar stories of a rabbit and tar baby throughout indigenous Meso-American and South American cultures.

[42] Thus, the tale of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby represents a coming together of two separate folk traditions, American and African, which coincidentally shared a common theme.

Anansi is often depicted in popular tales interacting with the Supreme Being and other deities who frequently bestow him with temporary supernatural powers, such as the ability to bring rain or to have other duties performed for him.

[46] In essence among the Akan, Anansi and his stories are folkloric creations used to convey moral truths and give anecdotal explanations for natural phenomena and occurrences.This is supported by his limited use outside of storytelling, including his absence as a totem animal.

Nevertheless, those who do recognize Anansi in a religious context in Akan spirituality acknowledge him as the Obosom of wisdom; he is even said to have created the first inanimate human body, according to the scholar Anthony Ephirim-Donkor.

[47] In the New World on the other hand, alternative religious views of Anansi have greater prominence in addition to his role as a folkloric character; followers of Haitian Vodou, for example, honor him as a Guede Lwa.

It is for this reason that many people call Anansi a Guede Lwa, as he is the one who is responsible for maintaining the many connections between the living beings of the known world and the spirits of those that have passed away.

[48] The Anancy Festival[59] was created by Xavier Murphy,[60] the founder of Jamaicans.com, educator Cathy Kleinhans,[61] and Dr. Andrea Shaw-Nevins,[62] the Dean of Farquhar Honors College at Nova Southeastern University, to connect children of Caribbean descent with the traditions of their ancestors through stories, song, dance, arts and crafts, book and poetry readings, and other art forms.