DAN CULTURE by Joan K. Yanni

DAN CULTURE

by Joan K. Yanni

Lois Metcalf's story in last month's Docent Newsletter was simply that:  a figment of her imagination, a story.  We have discovered since that the story was almost real.  Here are the facts:

There was, indeed, a fire-prevention masquerade carried on in the Dan culture.

Among the northern Dan, fire controlling masks were relatively common.  Worn over the face, they were painted red or were covered with red cloth, sometimes had a moustache, and were equipped with small, round eye holes, since no one was supposed to recognize the man who performed the zakpei, or fire-controlling masquerade.

The zakpei masquerades were very serious.  They took place during the dry season, for their purpose was to maintain control over the cooking fires of the women.  During the dry season, in the high Savannas where the Northern Dan lived, winds whipped up around mid-day; and if the fires in the open hearths were not put out, the houses, which had plant fiber roofs, could easily catch fire and be destroyed.

Around mid-day, the village crier first warned the women that they should put out their fires, for the zakpei was about to appear.  The masquerader then swiftly came in to the village, and if a fire was still burning, he overturned the cooking pots and beat the woman who had failed to put it out.  If she protested, zakpei would take a household possession, which then had to be redeemed by the head of the household that evening.  Sometimes the offending woman and her husband might be fined—required to appear before the village assembly with a hen and some rice.  It was thought that if the woman refused to comply she would surely die.

The fire-prevention tradition is now practiced in very few villages, for the Dan have settled on the lower plains where houses are built with corrugated iron roofs.