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Gizo (mythology)
Gizo, also known as Gizzo, is a spider trickster figure present in the traditional religion of the Hausa people, who are situated in the Sahelian regions and are in large numbers in Nigeria, Niger, Ivory Coast, and Benin. Like many cultural depictions of spiders in African mythology, Gizo is a mythic hero. Representation According to anthropologist Arthur John Newman Tremearne, Gizzo is considered the most prominent heroic figure in Hausa traditions. Like many other mythical African spiders, Gizzo is described as cunning and almost always outwits the other characters in Hausa folktales. Tremaine also noted that in Hausa culture, before a narrator told a fable, they will invoke the name of Gizzo beforehand. Legends The Elephant, The Hippopotamus, and The Spider A famine broke out once, and Gizo, as well as his family, was very hungry. So, Gizo went to the elephant, who is considered the master of all lands. Gizo said to the elephant, saying that the master of water, the hippo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trickster
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior. Mythology Tricksters, as archetypal characters, appear in the myths of many different cultures. Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser".Hyde, Lewis. ''Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis." Often, this bending or breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. The trickster openly questions, disrupts or mocks authority. Many cultures have tales ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hausa Animism
Hausa animism , "Maguzanci" or Bori is a pre-Islamic traditional religion of the Hausa people of West Africa that involves magic and spirit possession. Most of the adherents of the religion accepted Islam after the 18th century Jihad by the Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio. Terminology ''Bòòríí'' is a Hausa noun, meaning the spiritual force that resides in physical things, and is related to the word for local distilled alcohol (''borassa'') as well the practice of medicine (''boka''). The Bori religion is both an institution to control these forces, and the performance of an "adorcism" (as opposed to exorcism) ritual, dance and music by which these spirits are controlled and by which illness is healed. Pre-Islamic Hausaland An aspect of the traditional Maguzawa Hausa people's religious traditions, Bori became a state religion led by ruling-class priestesses among some of the late precolonial Hausa Kingdoms. When Islam started making inroads into Hausa land in the 14th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hausa People
The Hausa (Endonym, autonyms for singular: Bahaushe (male, m), Bahaushiya (female, f); plural: Hausawa and general: Hausa; exonyms: Ausa; Ajami script, Ajami: ) are the largest native ethnic group in Africa. They speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Hausa are a diverse but culturally homogeneous people based primarily in the Sahelian and the sparse savanna areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria respectively, numbering around 83 million people with significant indigenized populations in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Sudan, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Togo, Ghana, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Senegal and the Gambia. Predominantly Hausa-speaking communities are scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route north and east traversing the Sahara, with an especially large population in and around the town of Agadez. Other Hausa have also moved t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of , and with a population of over 225 million, it is the List of African countries by population, most populous country in Africa, and the List of countries and dependencies by population, world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in Niger–Nigeria border, the north, Chad in Chad–Nigeria border, the northeast, Cameroon in Cameroon–Nigeria border, the east, and Benin in Benin–Nigeria border, the west. Nigeria is a Federation, federal republic comprising of States of Nigeria, 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The List of Nigerian cities by population, largest city in Nigeria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niger
) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesRépublique du Niger, "Loi n° 2001-037 du 31 décembre 2001 fixant les modalités de promotion et de développement des langues nationales." L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde (accessed 21 September 2016) , languages = , religion_ref = , religion_year = 2012 , religion = , demonym = Nigerien , capital = Niamey , coordinates = , largest_city = Niamey , government_type = Unitary state, Unitary Semi-presidential s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to Guinea–Ivory Coast border, the northwest, Liberia to Ivory Coast–Liberia border, the west, Mali to Ivory Coast–Mali border, the northwest, Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Ivory Coast border, the northeast, Ghana to Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the east, and the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean) to the south. Its official language is French language, French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété languages, Bété, Baoulé language, Baoulé, Dyula language, Dioula, Dan language, Dan, Anyin language, Anyin, and Senari languages, Cebaara Senufo. In total, there are around 78 different Languages of Ivory Coast, languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The country has a Religion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its population lives on the southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Porto-Novo, and the seat of government is in Cotonou, the most populous city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of and its population in was estimated to be approximately million. It is a tropical nation, dependent on agriculture, and is an exporter of palm oil and cotton. Some employment and income arise from subsistence farming. The official language of Benin is French, with indigenous languages such as Fon, Bariba, Yoruba and Dendi also spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Sunni Isl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cultural Depictions Of Spiders
Throughout history, spiders have been depicted in popular culture, mythology and in symbolism. From Greek mythology to African folklore, the spider has been used to represent a variety of things, and endures into the present day with characters such as Shelob from ''The Lord of the Rings'' and Spider-Man from the eponymous comic series. It is also a symbol of mischief and malice for its toxic venom and the slow death it causes, which is often seen as a curse. In addition, the spider has inspired creations from an ancient geoglyph to a modern steampunk spectacle. Spiders have been the focus of fears, stories and mythologies of various cultures for centuries. The spider has symbolized patience and persistence due to its hunting technique of setting webs and waiting for its prey to become ensnared. Numerous cultures attribute the spider's ability to spin webs with the origin of spinning, textile weaving, basket weaving, knotwork and net making. Spiders are associated with creat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur John Newman Tremearne
Major Arthur John Newman Tremearne (1877 – 25 September 1915) was a British barrister, major ("D" Company. 1st/22nd Battalion London Regiment attached to the 8th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders), anthropologist and ethnographer. Life Tremearne was born in Melbourne in 1877, son of Ada Tremearne, of Melbourne, Australia, and John Tremearne MRCS. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. He was a lieutenant in the Second Boer War, but was invalided to England on 1 June 1900. He was struck off field strength on joining the Ashanti Field Force. He married Mary Louisa Tremearne, from Blackheath, London, in 1905. He was a masonic deacon in the Royal Colonial Institute No. 3556 E.C. lodge. He died at the Battle of Loos. He left an estate of £4638 5/6. There is a memorial;. Head measuring device In 1913 Tremearne developed a head-measuring device, which was modified with suggestions from Karl Pearson Karl Pearson (; born Carl Pearson; 27 March 1857 – 27 Apri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fable
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying. A fable differs from a parable in that the latter ''excludes'' animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind. Conversely, an animal tale specifically includes talking animals as characters. Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the King James Version of the New Testament, "" ("'' mythos''") was rendered by the translators as "fable" in the First Epistle to Timothy, the Second Epistle to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus and the First Epistle of Peter. A person who writes fables is a fabulist. History The fable is one of the most enduring forms of folk liter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anansi
Anansi ( ; literally translates to ''spider'') is an Akan folktale character and the Akan God of Stories, Wisdom, Knowledge, and possibly creation. The form of a spider is the most common depiction of Anansi. He is also, sometimes considered to be God of all knowledge of stories. Taking the role of trickster, he is also one of the most important characters of West African, African American and West Indian folklore. Originating in Ghana, West Africa, these spider tales were transmitted to the Caribbean by way of the transatlantic slave trade. Anansi is best known for his ability to outsmart and triumph over more powerful opponents through his use of cunning, creativity and wit.Respond to this article at Despite taking on the role of the trickster, Anansi's actions and parables often carry him as protagonist due to his ability to transform his apparent weaknesses into virtues. He is among several West African tricksters including Br'er Rabbit and Leuk Rabbit, who have persisted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of African Mythological Figures
This is a list of African spirits as well as deities found within the traditional African religions. It also covers spirits as well as deities found within the Afro-American religions—which is mostly derived from traditional African religions. Additionally, prominent mythic figures including heroes and legendary creatures may also be included in this list. Akan *Abu-Mehsu * Amokye *Anansi *Asase Ya *Aso *Bia *Bobowissi *Bosomtwe *Intikuma *Katarwiri *Kwase Benefo *Kweku Tsin *Nyame * Owuo * Tano Alur * Jok Odudu Bambara * Bemba * Chiwara *Duga *Faro *Kontron *Muso Koroni *Ndomadyiri * Ninimini *Sanen *Suruku *Teliko Baganda * Katonda *Ggulu * Kibuka *Kitaka *Kiwanuka *Mukasa *Musisi *Nambi *Warumbe *Wanema *Wanga Bahumono *Owazi Boloki * Libanza * Njambe Dahomey *Agé *Ayaba *Da *Gbadu * Gleti *Gu *Lisa *Loko *Mawu *Nana Buluku *Salosteles * Sakpata * Xevioso *Zinsi *Zinsu Dinka * Abuk * Aiwel * Deng * Kejok * Nhialic Efik * Abassi *Atai Fang * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
