Klo Dance

Klo Dance

AutumnA harvest celebration among the BaoulÉ people of Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in western Africa, the klo dance takes place during the fall harvest season and is similar to Halloween in the United States. Groups of young boys dressed from head to toe in strips of palm leaves go from house to house, dancing to the accompaniment of sticks beaten together. They ask for "treats"—yams, manioc, or peanuts—and sing a song of thanks if they are given any. But if they are refused, their "trick" is to sing teasing songs and to scold the woman of the house for being stingy. Afterward, the boys take their treats into the bush to eat them.
SOURCES:
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 531