Apache girl blessed with pollen at her Sunrise Dance

An Apache girl at her Sunrise Dance on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona, USA. The girl is covered with sacred yellow pollen from the cattail plant that has been applied as a blessing by the medicine man and her relatives. On her forehead she wears an abalone shell, symbolising Changing Woman, a mythical female figure. The Sunrise Dance is an enactment of the Apache creation myth and during the rites the girl ’becomes‘ Changing Woman and comes into possession of her healing powers. The rites are also supposed to prepare the girl for adulthood and to give her a long and healthy life without material wants.

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Filename: 4540.jpg
Copyright: Copyright © 2004 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 3278x4962 / 9.6MB; 1 American Southwest Apache Arizona Blessing Changing Woman Coming of Age Life Cycle Ritual Native Americans Native North Americans Necklace North America Outdoors Religion Rite de Passage Rite of Passage San Carlos Indian Reservation Sunrise Dance USA United States of America Vertical abalone shell adulthood cattail ceremony closed eyes cultural and ethnic dress ethnic group ethnic minority head shot holy indigenous people life cycle ceremony longevity maturity medicine man medicine-man minority native-americans one person only ornament outside pollen religious sacred tired yellow
Contained in galleries: Apache sunrise dance, USA

An Apache girl at her Sunrise Dance on the San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona, USA. The girl is covered with sacred yellow pollen from the cattail plant that has been applied as a blessing by the medicine man and her relatives. On her forehead she wears an abalone shell, symbolising Changing Woman, a mythical female figure. The Sunrise Dance is an enactment of the Apache creation myth and during the rites the girl ’becomes‘ Changing Woman and comes into possession of her healing powers. The rites are also supposed to prepare the girl for adulthood and to give her a long and healthy life without material wants.