Dan masks are carved in wood and stained with a brown dye. Dan masks are sacred objects. Dan masks are used for protection and as a channel for communication with the spirit world. The Dan also carry small 'passport masks' for personal protection when they are living away from home.

Vandenhoute distinguished two large groups of masks: the gebande and the genome. Gebande is the most sacred examples of Dan masks while Genome is a lower rank of masks. [4] [5] The classifications relate to the content which the Dan attribute to the mask, rather than the appearance of the mask.

Historically, Dan society vested political leadership in a council of elders. Masks served as agents of social control, enforcing the council’s rules and orders. The masked figures were believed to be incarnate spiritual beings capable of rendering unbiased judgments.

Chimpanzee mask. The basic unit of Dan culture is the family. Dan culture is patrilineal and polygamous, so this unit comprises a husband, one or more wives and their children. [5] Lineages, or groups of people descended from a common ancestor in the paternal line, live in distinct sections of the town, which are called quarters in Liberian ...