Dan  fire Mask (zakpei ge)

"The agricultural folk lives in a region of mountains and wooded savanna in the western Cote d'Ivoire, near the cities of Man and Danané, and in adjacent regions in Liberia. They speak a language derived from the Mande group and are considered to be the Mande of the south; they number about 350,000, and 270,000 in the Cote d'Ivoire.

The Dan live essentially in villages and are organized in patrilinear lineage groups; children live with their fathers, and marriage is governed by the rule of double exogamy, which prohibits union between cousins in both maternal and paternal lines. For the most parts, they have remained faithful to ancestral rites, and they posses numerous sacred objects, principally masks."

Bibliography: Werner Schmalenbach (ed.), African Art, Prestel-Verlag, Munich, 1988, p.108

"This mask, with its dark patina, originated from the northern Dan. This is indicated by the carefully hollowed and smoothed interior, as well as by the oval face with it finely carved features, high forehead, raised eyebrows, and strongly protruding mouth with full lips. Circular eyeholes that permit unhindered vision on the part of the wearer are characheristics of the racer mask (gunye ge) and the fire mask (zakpei ge), two subordinate mask types used by the northern Dan. The gunye ge hold weekly running contests during the dry season. Originally these contests tested the prowess of young warriors. The zakpei ge also appear at this time of year, to inspect cooking fires and prevent the ever-possible conflagration. They chastize careless women with a switch, knock pots over, and take objects as security for a fine of money.

As a rule, racer and fire masqueraders wear a scarf over their head which, in some cases, is decorated with leaves or a piece of sheepskin. If the masks have fiber wigs these are entirely concealed."

Bibliography : Iris Hahner, Maria Kecskési, László Vajda, African masks, the Barbier-Müller Collection, Prestel, Munich, London, New-York, 2012, p. 32