Apache Sunrise Dress
The buckskin dress that an Apache girl dons during her ceremonial initiation into womanhood is an important part of her ritual transformation and the community's overall way of life. The feasts commemorating a girl's transition into a woman are the focal point of ceremonial gatherings for the Apache population, which is spread across Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. The girl spends a year studying Apache culture, practicing meditation and prayer, and preparing for feasts with her family and ceremonial sponsors. At the end of this year-long process, they have a four-day ceremony that the entire community participates in. The young girl is ceremoniously "sung" into the earth goddess, Changing Woman, during these four days. In the process, the girl embraces the maturity of Changing Woman and becomes a woman herself, while Changing Woman is revitalized with the girl's youth. The entire ritual replicates what the Native American creation story says Changing Woman ordained.
The girl's attire alluded to the characteristics of the Changing Woman that she will assume upon her ceremonial metamorphosis. Never previously worn, it's an extravagant white buckskin outfit. The garment is ceremoniously created and serves as a symbolic representation of several aspects of the Changing Woman myth. The deer that provides its hide for the clothing is slain in a polite and contemplative manner by being strangled with a handful of holy cattail pollen rather than by a gunshot or knife wound. The dress's fringes, which symbolize the sun's rays, swing softly as the girl transforms into Changing Woman during her all-night shuffling dance in front of a ceremonial fire. The outfit is adorned with ribbons that are colored and turquoise, symbolizing the might of the four sacred directions. The girl wears an abalone pendant on her forehead, signifying her ceremonial metamorphosis into Changing Woman. Every major step in the dress-making process is accompanied by ceremonial music that highlights the strength of Changing Woman by voicing her myth.
Over the ceremony's four days, the power of Changing Woman endows the dress and other objects with the ability to heal and prolong life for the assembled community. The young Apache lady undergoing this ceremony receives the spiritual fortitude and feeling of cultural identity needed to confront the difficulties of living in two different worlds from the living presence of Changing Woman. The girl impersonates Changing Woman during the protracted ceremony, taking part in actions crucial to the position of women in the Apache tribe. For example, the girl and the women assisting her prepare a big corn cake as part of the ceremony, which must be baked in a pit for the entire night. During this time, the women are not permitted to sleep, and the following day, the girl distributes cake pieces to event attendees. The cake represents Mother Earth because the corn is from the earth, and the girl is Changing Woman, who can turn the earth into food.
Legend has it that Changing Woman never dies but changes all the time. In winter, she matures into an elderly woman, but she reverts to her youthful state in spring. She thus stands for the force of life, fertility, and the passage of the seasons.
If you want to see this beautiful dress for yourself, come by our museum in Bentonville!
Works Cited
Apache Initiation Dress | The Pluralism Project
“Changing Woman | Encyclopedia.com.” Changing Woman | Encyclopedia.com, www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/changing-woman#:~:text=According%20to%20legend%2C%20Changing%20Woman,%2C%20fertility%2C%20and%20changing%20seasons.
Credit to Olivia Lee and Mae Gibson