An Apache girl's Sunrise Dance

An Apache girl is painted white with sacred clay and corn meal during her Sunrise Dance, a first menstruation rite, on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA. She is painted by a Mountain Spirit (Gaan) or Crown Dancer, and the staff in her hand symbolises longevity. The painting of the girl is both a blessing and an enactment of certain parts of the Apache creation myth. During the rites the girl becomes Changing Woman, a mythical female figure, and comes into possession of her healing powers. 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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Filename: 5040.jpg
Copyright: Copyright © 2004 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 3931x5873 / 17.1MB; American Indian American Indians American Southwest Apache Arizona Changing Woman Clay Native Americans Native North Americans North America Outdoors Religion Rite of Passage San Carlos Indian Reservation Sunrise Dance USA United States of America Vertical White adulthood animal hide buck-skin buckskin cane ceremony crown dancers eagle feathers ethnic group ethnic minority first menstruation full body portraits gaan gaans girl indigenous people life cycle ceremony longevity maturity minority mountain spirits native-americans ornament outside religious sacred sprinkle teenage girl two persons with others woman
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An Apache girl is painted white with sacred clay and corn meal during her Sunrise Dance, a first menstruation rite, on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA. She is painted by a Mountain Spirit (Gaan) or Crown Dancer, and the staff in her hand symbolises longevity. The painting of the girl is both a blessing and an enactment of certain parts of the Apache creation myth. During the rites the girl becomes Changing Woman, a mythical female figure, and comes into possession of her healing powers. The rites are supposed to prepare the girl for adulthood and to give her a long and healthy life without material wants.