Mythology
African Mythology Quiz
Anansi the Spider, Yoruba orishas, and mythologies older than any written record.
Anansi the Spider, Yoruba orishas, and mythologies older than any written record.
The Yoruba religious tradition has an estimated 100+ million practitioners worldwide when including its diaspora forms — Vodou, Santería, and Candomblé — making it one of the world's major religious traditions. This quiz covers 50 questions on African mythological traditions from Anansi to the orishas.
You'll explore the Yoruba orishas and their domains, Anansi the Spider's journey from Ghana to the Caribbean, the creation myths of the Zulu, Kikuyu, and Bakuba peoples, the water spirit Mami Wata, how African spiritual traditions survived slavery through Vodou and Santería, and why these traditions are experiencing a global renaissance.
Anansi is a trickster figure from the Ashanti/Akan people of Ghana — a small, clever spider who outsmarts larger and more powerful opponents through wit. Anansi stories traveled to the Caribbean and Americas through the transatlantic slave trade, becoming a symbol of resistance and survival.
Orishas are divine beings in the Yoruba tradition, each governing specific aspects of nature and human experience. Major orishas include Shango (thunder), Oshun (love and rivers), Yemoja (ocean and motherhood), and Ogun (iron and technology). They serve as intermediaries between the supreme creator Olodumare and humanity.
Enslaved Africans preserved their spiritual traditions by syncretizing them with Catholicism — associating orishas with Catholic saints to practice openly. This gave rise to Vodou in Haiti, Santería in Cuba, and Candomblé in Brazil. Oral storytelling traditions like Anansi tales also survived as resistance literature.
Last updated: March 2026