Apache girl performing Sun Rise Dance

Apache Indians dance at a Sunrise Dance, the first menstruation ceremony of an Apache girl, on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona, USA. Behind the girl, who is dressed in buckskin clothes, the medicine man and his helpers sing and beat their drums. The long row of cartons filled with snacks and drinks, in front of the girl, symbolises a life without material want. The rites are supposed to prepare the girl for adulthood and to give her a long and healthy life. During the rites the girl also becomes Changing Woman, a mythical female figure, and comes into possession of her healing powers.

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Copyright: Copyright © 2004 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 5508x3661 / 17.9MB; American Southwest Apache Arizona Changing Woman Coming of Age Horizontal Life Cycle Ritual Native Americans Native North Americans North America Religion Rite de Passage Rite of Passage San Carlos Indian Reservation Sunrise Dance USA United States of America adulthood blue sky buck-skin buckskin cane ceremony coming of age cultural and ethnic dress dawn daybreak drum drums eagle feathers ethnic clothing ethnic minority first menstruation food and drink fringed fringes indigenous people life cycle ceremony life cycle ritual longevity maturity medicine man morning music music instrument musical instrument musical instruments musician native-americans puberty rite religious rite de passage rite of passage ritual small group of people sun up sunrise sunrises sunshine
Contained in galleries: Apache sunrise dance, USA

Apache Indians dance at a Sunrise Dance, the first menstruation ceremony of an Apache girl, on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona, USA. Behind the girl, who is dressed in buckskin clothes, the medicine man and his helpers sing and beat their drums. The long row of cartons filled with snacks and drinks, in front of the girl, symbolises a life without material want. The rites are supposed to prepare the girl for adulthood and to give her a long and healthy life. During the rites the girl also becomes Changing Woman, a mythical female figure, and comes into possession of her healing powers.