Crown Dancers at an Apache Sunrise Dance

Mountain Spirits (Gaan) or Crown Dancers dance beside a big bonfire at night during an Apache Sunrise Dance, a first menstruation rite, on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA. The Sunrise Dance is the most important ceremony of the Apache Indians. It is held during the summer, within one year after the girl has had her first menstruation, and lasts for four days. The rites are supposed to prepare the girl for adulthood and to give her a long and healthy life without material wants.

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Copyright: Copyright © 2004 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 5593x3695 / 14.3MB; America American Indian American Indians American Southwest Apache Arizona Dancing Horizontal Native Americans Native North Americans North America Religion Rite of Passage San Carlos Indian Reservation Sunrise Dance USA United States of America bonfire ceremony crown dancers cultural and ethnic dress dark ethnic ethnic clothing ethnic group ethnic minority first menstruation gaan gaans girl indigenous people life cycle ceremony maturity minority mountain spirits mystic native-americans night puberty rite religious woman
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Mountain Spirits (Gaan) or Crown Dancers dance beside a big bonfire at night during an Apache Sunrise Dance, a first menstruation rite, on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA. The Sunrise Dance is the most important ceremony of the Apache Indians. It is held during the summer, within one year after the girl has had her first menstruation, and lasts for four days. The rites are supposed to prepare the girl for adulthood and to give her a long and healthy life without material wants.