Dan people, who are also known by the name Yacuba, live in the western part of the Ivory Coast and into Liberia where the land is forested in the south and bordered by a savannah in the north. The 350,000 Dan people make their living from farming cocoa, rice, and manioc. Before unifying secret societies were set up at the turn of the century, each Dan village was an autonomous socio political unit governed by a chief elected on the base of his wealth and social position. Today, the leopard society acts as a major regulator of Dan life and initiates young men during their isolated periods of three to four months in the forest. Dan people have achieved notoriety in the area for their entertainment festivals which were historically village ceremonies, but are today performed largely for tourists. During these festivals, masked performers dance on stilts.
Dan masks are characterized by a concave face, a pointed chin, a protruding mouth, an upturned nose, a high domed forehead and are often cover in a rich brown patina. Similar masks are found throughout the country, but regional stylistic variations occur. For example, northern face masks tend to have very fine features, a high domed smooth forehead, eyes set in the middle of the face, and a very smooth brown patina obtained by immersing the mask in a pool of mud. Southern masks, on the other hand, have protruding features and a rougher patina obtained by applying vegetal pigments.
