Apache Mural
Navajo Yei Be Chai Rug Textile.
Yei Be Chai is the sacred holy people of the Navajo people.
(Source: sunburntwest)
With permission of the family and the Medicine Family-
This video is the second of a four day early morning dance ceremony that the Apache Tribe practice during the coming of age of a young female. The Crown Dancers are the G-ds of the Mountains where we go to pray. They are called the Ga’an and we hold very sacred. This video is of the young girl on her second day of intense ritual, prayer, dance, meditation, teaching, and silence that she has to endure to become a women respected in the Apache Tribe. This version is of the White Mountain Tribe of Arizona. In our tribe we hold the women and mothers, the matriarch, of our family the head of the household. This is why a such intricate/intense ceremony is held when a female comes of age. The dancers, The G-ds or Ga’ans, bless her for future blessings to show the way for our People.This brings such a smile to my face. The early Sunrise Dances brings a smile to my face. It’s a celebration and welcomes a new ‘maternal’ figure to our lives. She is at the front of the line carrying the staff of the dance line. Once she finishes her 4 day ceremony she is a Women. The ladies that follow are women who have done their ceremony and mentor her to become good. Usually aunts, cousins, and sisters (mothers and grandmothers are usually watching to make sure everything is made perfect and critique).
A’hoo! and remember to always turn right.
A Hopi woman dressing the hair of an unmarried girl. Photograph by Henry Peabody, ca. 1900.
Source: National Archives and Records Administration
(via cafaknv)
