Zlan

Zlan is the supreme creator of Dan and Gio cosmology, the maker of the universe and of every living creature. Sources record the name in several dialectal forms, including Zan, Zra and Xra. Zlan fashioned the world and imparts to each person and animal its soul (du) at birth, yet is held to be distant and unreachable: no worshipper may see or approach the creator directly. Communication instead passes through zu, the immanent holy spirit that emanates from Zlan and is reached in dreams, divination and masquerade. Dan tradition also credits Zlan with giving humankind the mask (ge), the instrument by which the invisible spirits of the forest are made present and controllable within the ordered world of the village.

Domains

• creation
• sky supreme
• life giving

Powers

• created the universe and all beings
• imparts the soul (du) at birth
• gave humankind the mask (ge)
• remains unseen and unreachable

Relations

• child: ZuZu is the immanent spirit-power that emanates from and mediates the otherwise inaccessible creator.Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Dan (African people)', describing zu as the holy spirit of Zlan. (secondary)

Sources

• Zlan is the supreme creator god of the Dan, who made the universe and everything in it but remains inaccessible to direct human contact.: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Dan (African people)'. (secondary); George Schwab, Tribes of the Liberian Hinterland (Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 1947). (primary)
• The Dan received the mask (ge) through which forest spirits enter the village from their creator Zlan.: Fischer and Himmelheber, The Arts of the Dan in West Africa (Museum Rietberg, 1984). (secondary)