An Apache girl's Sunrise Dance

A basket filled with candy, maize and money is poured over an Apache girl at her Sunrise Dance, a first menstruation rite, on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA. This symbolises good luck and material wealth. 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 ceremony is an enactment of the Apache creation myth and during the rites the girl ’becomes‘ Changing Woman, a mythical female figure, 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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Copyright: Copyright © 2004 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 5585x3711 / 11.2MB; America American Indian American Indians American Southwest Apache Arizona Changing Woman Food Horizontal Joy Native North Americans North America Religion Rite of Passage San Carlos Indian Reservation Smiling Sunrise Dance US USA United States of America adulthood basket candy ceremony cheerful crowd cuisine diet ethnic ethnic group ethnic minority events first menstruation food and nutrition gang group group of people grouping hands happiness happy indigenous people life cycle ceremony maturity minority mob native-american native-americans puberty rite religious sweets
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A basket filled with candy, maize and money is poured over an Apache girl at her Sunrise Dance, a first menstruation rite, on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, USA. This symbolises good luck and material wealth. 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 ceremony is an enactment of the Apache creation myth and during the rites the girl ’becomes‘ Changing Woman, a mythical female figure, 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.