Stories of Anancy and other creole tales

Abstract

The wanderings of Anancy, the ineffable Spiderman, are back in the public domain. This time, the witnesses are old people and children, women and men, diverse people of the Nicaraguan Caribbean. They have seen him surpassing in skill the highly skilled Culebra, taking revenge on the monkeys that stole the bananas from his farm, teaching Tacuma that there is “a pain that is stronger than any sore”: betrayal. It is not known when, how or from where Anancy arrived at the Coast; it has been said that he is originally from Africa, specifically from the western part of that continent. We do know that he is known by all the inhabitants of the English speaking Caribbean, who generally attribute magical qualities to him. But among our coastal people he is a common man, who solves his problems by means of cunning and without resorting to supernatural powers. Undoubtedly, Anancy is one of the oldest and most essential characters of the Caribbean folklore. This was the understanding of Roderick Green, Azalie Hodgson and Ray Garth all of them notable members of the RAAS Creole community and, therefore, profound connoisseurs of their own culture - who, under the auspices of CIDCA, carried out between 1988 and 1989 the research that yields here an unforgettable preliminary report.