Kagle
Dan · numen · Dan traditional religion; continuing · numen
Kagle is the hooked, troublemaking mask-spirit of the Dan, sometimes cast as a chimpanzee. Its angular face bears prominent, uneven teeth, and some examples carry a row of antelope horns across the forehead. In performance it carries bundles of hooked branches, hurling them at spectators to clear and warm up a dancing ground and to provoke the crowd, and it disrupts festivities with boisterous, erratic movement. Its aggressive mischief has a disciplinary edge, and the mask is also associated with instructing young men in combat, placing it among the fierce ge alongside the war spirit bugle.
Domains
- misrule
- festivity
- combat instruction
Powers
- throws hooked branches at onlookers
- disrupts festivities with erratic movement
Relations
- companion: Bugle
Sources
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection record for the Kagle mask, Dan peoples.