Somtup
Somtup is the highest male spirit recognized by the Baga of coastal Guinea after the creator god Kanu. Alternate names include wu-Them ('the Patriarch'), a-Mantsho-ngö-Pön/a-Mantsho-ño-Pön ('the Great Chief/Prophet'), a-Paran ('the Grandfather'), and the Susu name Kakilambe. He was represented by a portable construction about twenty metres high—a massive raffia-covered cage surmounted by a bird head and carried by about twenty men. Somtup is the spirit of the masculine line and patron of the men's initiation society; he is said to reside in the Fouta Djallon and to visit the coast only every s