Deangle
Dan · numen · Dan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Deangle is the gentle, feminine mask-spirit (ge) of the Dan, one of the benevolent forest spirits made present through masquerade. Its carved face is smooth and idealised, with narrow, almond-shaped eyes and refined features understood as feminine, and its temperament is peaceful and nurturing. During the seclusion of the boys' initiation camp the deangle comes each day into the village to ask the women for food, which it carries back to sustain the initiates, and it also entertains with graceful movement. Museum tradition glosses it as the peaceful or joking masquerade, set in deliberate contrast with the aggressive, masculine masks of war and misrule.
Domains
- initiation
- nurture
- entertainment
Powers
- gathers food for the initiation camp
- embodies gentle, feminine beauty
Relations
- companion: TankagleRanked among the gentle, entertaining ge that appear in the same masquerade cycles.Fischer and Himmelheber, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa (1984), on the benevolent entertaining masks. (secondary)
Sources
- Deangle is a gentle, feminine mask-spirit that leaves the boys' initiation camp daily to collect food from the village women for the initiates.: Fischer and Himmelheber, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa (1984). (secondary); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection record for the Deangle ('peaceful spirit') mask, Dan peoples. (secondary)