Z is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.


Z is for Zany and Zesty!

And so, we come to the close of another year of A to Zing, a ZANY trip journey though the world of Anansi the spider, trickster of the Caribbean.

I hope that you have come away having a greater ZEST for life. If Anansi can be optimistic AND opportunistic in the face of suffering, maybe we should at least learn this from him, that dancing through life is better than sitting around moping.

Go forth and LIVE WITH ZANY ZEST!

Anansi and his cohorts would like to thank you for stopping by and hope you enjoyed visiting.

How do you escape a hungry tiger? Why do ram-goats smell? What happens if you get too greedy? In this collection of ten retold Jamaican stories, Anansi the spider tricks, sings, and dances his way into and out of trouble.

But who is Anansi? It was the Ashanti of West Africa who brought the spider into the Caribbean. He clung tight to the web he wove in the minds of those who had been captured, surviving not only the harrowing passage across the Atlantic Ocean, but hundreds of years of slavery.

As a trickster, Anansi has both good and bad traits, which makes him very human. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses. When he wins he dances and sings for joy. When he loses, he shakes it off and keeps on living, a lesson for us all.

Available for Kindle and in print at Amazon.com

Y is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

Y is for Yam

Did you know sweet potatoes are
members of the morning glory family?

When you think of yams, you might picture these guys, those orange colored tubers we serve up at Thanksgiving.





When I think of yams I'm thinking of something more like this.


These are true yams, belonging to the Yam family. They are not sweet, but rather kind of dry and starchy. You can read more about them HERE.

In Africa and in the Caribbean they have long been a staple as well as a versatile tuber. So when you read about yams in the Anansi stories, these are the ones that are being referenced.

X is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

X is for Xcerpt

As in: "a short extract from a film, broadcast, piece of music or writing." Okay, so I cheated a bit, but so what? 

Here's an Xcerpt from "Miss Ophelia's Daughter," which happens to be one of my favorite stories from, Anansi and Company. Plus I am sharing with you, one of the five fabulous illustrations by Adrienne Saldivar that are in the book.

Don't you just love how Anansi is watching
 from beneath the floorboards? 

In a poor but neat little house on the edge of town lived Miss Ophelia and her daughter. Miss Ophelia was a strange old woman. No one could ever remember Miss Ophelia calling her daughter by her name. It was always, "Daughter," or "Sweetheart," or "Child."

In time people began to suspect that Miss Ophelia's daughter had no name at all. They tsked, tsked and whispered amongst themselves whenever Miss Ophelia or her daughter came to market. Rumors began to spread. In time, people came to believe Miss Ophelia was a witch and that her daughter wasn't really her daughter at all, but an enchanted spirit-helper.

Eventually, the rumors so annoyed Miss Ophelia, she decided to do something about it. One Saturday morning at the busy market, she got up on the steps leading to the stalls and called for everyone's attention.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell all of you I ain't no witch and that my daughter ain't enchanted. It seem to me all o' of should know better. Particularly you, Miss Agatha, since you was there at my bedside when my daughter was born. To end all this talk, I am offering  up a challenge. I will give one hundred dollars to anyone who can guess my daughter name."

W is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

W is for Witches and other supernatural beings.

Although I haven't included any stories about witches in my book, in "Miss Ophelia's Daughter," Miss Ophelia is accused of being one.

There are lots of stories of witches and sorcery in the Caribbean. Mischievous and evil spirits roam the islands at will. In the Jamaican stories there are duppies which were thought to be spirits or supernatural apparitions.  A duppy could even be the devil.

In the Virgin Islands there were stories of jumbies, mischievous and sometimes malevolent spirits, that could cause all kinds of problems.



People used to shut up their windows and doors at night to keep the jumbies out. If a person had a particular fear they would scatter 99 grains of rice outside around the house. The jumbie would see the rice and start picking it up then spend the entire night searching for the hundredth grain.

If a person had to walk at night he or she always wore a hat because the belief was that a bat - a jumbie carrier - would fly in your hair and leave a jumbie behind which would make you crazy. People also walked without any kind of light and wearing dark clothes so as to blend into the darkness and avoid being seen.

V is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

V is for Vagary

Vagary comes from the Latin word vagari meaning to wander. For us it has come to mean, "an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action or notion." Synonyms include: absurdity, imagination, whim and antic.

Anansi is all these things.



Just look at that face and tell me you don't see someone who would act on a whim, cut up, be absurd, and have a lot of imagination.

In fact, he has so much imagination, Anansi often thinks outside the box. He can think so far out the box that he out-thinks himself and/or the situation, in which case his antics back-fire on him.

Even then, the result of his actions can lead to unexpected results or lessons, both good and bad.

U is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

U is for the Ulterior Motive

Anansi always has one of those. He's always thinking, planning, maneuvering, always spinning webs.

If he says one thing, you can be sure he's spider brain is working on something else.

Which kind leads me to think that he must be pretty darn smart.

























I apologize for not being around yesterday... but we kind of had an emergency. Our water heater decided to spring a leak at 3 AM and water shorted it out, causing wires to start melting and insulation to start smoldering. Luckily we caught it time and pulled it out of the house. It meant getting a new water heater and being really exhausted the rest of day. Hopefully I'll be out and about today.

How long do you think it will take for the stink of smoldering insulation to leave the house?

T is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

T is for Trickster

What else? Tricksters can be found all over the world. They break the rules of the gods, of nature, and convention. Sometimes their tricks are malicious, as with the Norse god, Loki, but mostly their tricks end up with a positive result. They can be sly, foolish and humorous, thus making them very human.

Anansi is in good company. 

A few famous tricksters include:

Reynard the Fox: Germany

Br'er Rabbit: Southern United States

In this picture Brer Rabbit is confronting 
Tar Baby. There's a tar baby story 
in my book Anansi and Company.

Coyote: Native American

Don Juan: Spain

Puss in Boots: Italy, France

  

Bugs Bunny: United States

Hermes: Greece
Ivan the Fool: Russia
Maui: Polynesia
Morgan Le Fay: Wales

 Pan: Greece

Puck: Celtic

Robin Hood: England

Captain Jack Sparrow: Hollywood

Sinbad: Arabia

Uncle Tempa: Tibet

 Woody Woodpecker: United States

Do you have a favorite trickster?

The answers to Monday's Riddles are:
1.) My father has a tree full of apples and not a man can count them. What are they?    Stars

2.) My mother put on a pot of food to boil; the top boil before the bottom. What is it?   A pipe and pipe tobacco

3.) I walk up a hill. I meet a man. I cut off he head. I poke out he eyes. I drink he blood. I eat he flesh. I throw away he bones. What am I?   A coconut

I didn't realize these riddles would be so hard. I thought at least one person would get one right. Alas... there is no winner. For those of you who actually gave it try, THANKS for playing. And I must be honest, I'm not good at riddles either.

S is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

S is for Song (and Dance)

Anansi likes music. He  sings, plays a fiddle, and dances.

I can make the assumption that he likes music because it came with him from Africa and that it evolved, over time, to reflect the various islands where his stories were told.

In the Virgin Islands, Quelbe (pronounced quail-bay), is the official music. The bands are also called scratch bands. The traditional dance is the quadrille. It is a dance where the steps are called out, similar to square dancing. I can see Anansi taking part.

Here's a video of quadrille dancers, in traditional costumes, preforming during Carnival in St. Thomas, 2012. Just watching a minute or two will give you an idea of the flavor of this traditional music and dance.

And here's a Quelbe Festival that took place on St. Croix in 2012.

R is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

R is for Riddles

In my book, Anansi and Company, I have included, after each story, a traditional riddle that comes directly from Martha Warren Beckwith's book, Jamaica Anansi Stories.

Some riddles have a European flavor to them as in this one:

My father have twenty-five white horses in a row, if one trot all trot, if one gallop all gallop, if one stop all stop, and one cannot go on without the other.

It's very similar to: Thirty white horses on a red hill. Now they champ, now they stamp, now they stand still.

The answer, of course, is TEETH.

But many of the riddles are decidedly West Indian: My father have a thing in his yard, run off cover up the whole ground. The answer is a pumpkin vine, or the squash I posted about under P.

Here are some riddles for you to try. I'll post the answers on Wednesday the 23rd under T.

As a bonus I'm offering a free e-copy for Kindle of Anansi and Company! All you have to do is answer one or all of the riddles. The more you answer correctly the more chances you have of winning. I'll put all the correct answers (along with your name) in a hat and draw a winner. So Give it a try!

If there is a winner, I will announce it on Wednesday!

1.) My father has a tree full of apples and not a man can count them. What are they?

2.) My mother put on a pot of food to boil; the top boil before the bottom. What is it?

This last riddle is one that was told to me by an elderly St. Thomian lady and is one she heard as a child.

3.) I walk up a hill. I meet a man. I cut off he head. I poke out he eyes. I drink he blood. I eat he flesh. I throw away he bones. What am I?

Q is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

Q is for Quilts - specifically,   Crazy Quilts.

Simply put, Anansi stories are a patchwork that cover everything from why mosquitoes buzz in our ears to Anansi doing his best to get out of working.



Because he is small and weak, Anansi has to get what he needs or wants through guile and tricks. And though sometimes his tricks back-fire on him, his actions can often set things in motion, causing a different effect or out-come than he anticipated.

Much like a crazy quilt. One never quite knows what the quilt will look like when it's finished. So too, the result of Anansi's behavior may surprise.

In the end you have something unique and individual.

P is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.


P is for Peas and Pumpkin






When you hear/read the words peas and pumpkin I bet you picture these guys.

When I hear/read peas and pumpkin I'm thinking pigeon peas (gondules) and a squash grown in the tropics that I've always known to be a Hubbard squash. But it isn't the Hubbard it's called calabaza (Cucurbita moschata). There's an article from the University of Puerto Rico about growing them HERE and it has some pictures.

Rice and pigeon peas.

Pumpkins are a delicious staple and the vine grows well in the tropics. After all, it's a tropical squash.

Pigeon peas can be brown or green. The plants are hardy and thrive evenin the islands.

Both peas and pumpkin are added to many different dishes and are mentioned quite a bit in the Anansi stories.

But then they would be, because it's... FOOD!

Have you ever eaten gondules? 

O is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

O is for Ocean

Rivers seem to be mentioned more often than the ocean in the Anansi stories. There are fish stories, one of which is included in my book, Anansi and Company, but the ocean itself, doesn't seem to play any roles.

Sir Francis Drake Passage, named after him because he sailed 
right through here. St. John, U. S. Virgin Island is on the right. 
Tortola, British VirginIsland is on the left. In the distant center in 
Virgin Gorda, BVI. Before they won their freedom from Denmark
 in 1848, many slaves on St. John swam or smuggled themselves 
across The Passage to Tortola where slavery had been 
abolished in 1833.

I could hazard a guess as to why. As beautiful as the ocean can be, it was a constant reminder to the slaves of the horrors of the Middle Passage. It was a barrier, both physical and psychological, which they could not get across.

This is only my thoughts on it. I could be wrong. But when something so obvious is rarely mentioned, one wonders why.

N is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

N is for Names

Like the story Rumpelstiltskin, there are name guessing stories in the Caribbean. I included one in my book, Anansi and Company. It's called, "Miss Ophelia's Daughter," and happens to be my personal favorite.

Here's a list of some characters who appear both in my book and in the collection of Jamaican Anansi stories.

With some names, it's obvious who the characters are. Others, not so much.

Anansi

Ant

Beetle

Blinkie - firefly or lightening bug

But-But - butterfly

Cow

Crow

Dog

Duppy - a ghost or spirit

Guinea-hen

Monkey

Mosquito

Mrs. Anansi

Pig

Quit-Quit - possibly a bird, either a bananaquit (pictured below) or grassquit

Rabbit

Ram-Goat

Rat

Sheep

Tacoomah, pronounced TUCK-a-man, is probably a spider but in different stories the name has been given to a dog, Anansi's son, and even to his wife.

Tiger

M is for...

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Sorry I wasn't around yesterday, byt we had a wonderful thunderstorm which knocked out my connection. The nice thing is we got 2 inches of much needed rain.

For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

M is for Martha Warren Beckwith

Were it not for Martha I would not have the Anansi stories to retell and the world would be an emptier place had she not gathered the stories together.

Martha was "the first person to hold a chair in Folklore at any college or university in the country." (You can read her bio in the Vassar Encyclopedia HERE.)

In the summer 1919 and again in the winter of 1921 she went to Jamaica and recorded storytellers and their music, then faithfully transcribed the stories, "without polish or adornment, as nearly as possible as they were told to me...." She published her collection in 1924, under the title, Jamaica Anansi Stories. 

I have an original first addition copy. It has since been republished and can even be gotten for Kindle!

The stories, written in the original Jamaican dialect, can be difficult to read and understand. Many of the stories are more like fragments than stories with a true beginning, middle and end.

What I have tried to do is not only translate them, but to retell the stories in a way that readers can easily understand.

Here's to Martha Warren Beckwith, the Joel Chandler Harris of the Caribbean. If you don't know who Joel was, he gathered and compiled the Uncle Remus stories.

L is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

L is for Lion

If there's anything that seems odd to me about the Anansi stories, it's that Tiger is a main character. Tiger is big, strong, rich and usually has plenty of food. He and Anansi are cautious friends. They understand each other. Tiger knows Anansi can be deceiving and Anansi knows Tiger can easily kill him.




My question is, why Tiger and not Lion, when lions are African? Tigers are Asian. So how did Tiger get into stories?  Lion does show up from time to time, but he seems to be minor actor, at best.

K is for...

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For this, my 5th year doing the Challenge, it's the

A to Z of Anansi the spider.

K is for King

Kings, marrying off their beautiful daughters to the highest bidder, turn up in Anansi stories, just as they do in many fairy tales.

One such story in my book, Anansi and Company, is "Anansi and Beetle." To win the hand of the princess, all that is needed is a jar full of money. Of course, Anansi does not have any money, but Beetle does.

Let the games begin.

This isn't exactly a painting of a king auctioning off his daughter (it's The Judgement of Midas) but it kind of looks like it. I also like that there's a fiddle and flute player.