The Dan people comprise a West Affrican ethnic group in northwest Cote D'Ivoire and northeast Liberia. Dan masks are made and used by all-male secret associations for rituals, education, social control, and entertainment. Masks were thought to embody the most powerful of spirit forces called "gle." Each gle has its own character as a means of bringing control and order to village life. The gle masks were worn and danced by male members of secret societies with initiation, leadership, and ritual roles.

This mask is carved from one piece of wood; a shirt or dress with a pocket still intact covers the back. The headdress is made of balls of rug or burlap covered with fabric. Straw and animal hair frame the lower part of the face.

It may represent a Tanka-gle with its mouth and teeth open. Tanka-gle are seen as gentle, good-humored, and amusing. They appear before dignitaries to sing and recite proverbs asking for Divine blessings on communities. Unlike the female Dean-gle, the Tanka-gle and other male masks have open mouths. The masks are part of full-body costumes. (PS)

Sources: Jessica Feinstein, “Art, Out of Africa,” Yale Daily News (January 30, 2004), B1, ill.

(This mask was formerly identified as We (Kran) mask. We is a general term that ethologists have used to group all the forest tribes in this area, of which the Dan are a part.)