In Ghana folktale, Anansi the spider appears as a shape-shifting trickster that can take the form of a man. Iris is the goddess trickster that is keen on starting troubles simply for her own entertainment, just like she did with the Trojan war. Gizo appears valiantly armed with deceit used to successfully slip away from precarious situations. Gizo, who is summoned with the beginning of a folktale, does it for Hausa mythology. Unlike other pantheon of gods that are worshipped in the myths of distinct culture, the trickster is not revered with such acknowledgement. Eshu is the bridge between humans and the gods. Eshu, also called Elegba, teaches men through unpleasant experiences with the sole intention of helping them to be better individuals. He is the god of chance, chaos, and unpredictability. In the Yoruba pantheon of gods is Eshu, the trickster. On such expeditions, the monkey, through deceit, gets the book of life and death and then erases his name and eats the pills of immortality. The monkey assumed the godly status from numerous explorations earning immortality. However, Sun Wukong was not born as a monkey but had a strange birth from a heavenly stone. In Chinese mythology, the monkey king(Sun Wukong) is the trickster that was born with magical powers. But with Ekwensu and every other trickster embedded in the mythology of varying cultures around the world, there is no grey area. He is perceived as a spirit of violence that incites people to perform violent acts. In Igbo spirituality, the concept of the devil does not exist and so Ekwensu is the god that also brings victory to the people, winning wars and thus seen as the God of war.Įkwensu is crafty when it comes to trade and negotiations and is often petitioned for guidance in difficult money-oriented situations. Just like Norse mythology that has Loki as the contriver of fraud and who does not fall short of it, among the Igbo gods (Alusi) like Ani, Chukwu, and Igwe, Ekwensu is the god who plays such roles. This misleading notion has thus festered, making Ekwensu lose its original identity. In a bid to juxtapose the culture and traditions of the people placed beside theirs (missionaries), the idealised concept of Ekwensu referred to as the devil began to take root. Contrary to popular opinion that stems from religious beliefs, Ekwensu is not the devil.Īpparently, with the invasion that brought Christianity to Nigeria, many of the cultures and customs were not understood by these strangers trying to navigate this new terrain. Unfortunately, this cannot be said of Ekwensu, who is the trickster and bargaining god in Igbo cosmology.
According to Norse mythology, for Loki, nothing goes for nothing. Typically, Loki is a defiant god who objects to the customs in character and other forms of living.
0 kommentar(er)
