124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



2. Because of my age (21), I was able to ask the older people to "teach" me 

 about the ceremony. In a very real sense this approach was in keeping with the 

 Apache pattern of young men asking elders for instruction in the higher matters 

 of religion. 



APACHE WORDS 



Apache words in the text are written in terms of the broad phonetic 

 transcription indicated below. Phonemic interpre tation awaits further 

 investigation. 



i=[Il 

 ih=W 



e=[e] 

 eh=[el 



a=la] 

 ah=[xl 



o=[cl 

 oh=[o] 



u=[v] 

 uh=[u] 

 p,t,k=voiceless stops 

 b,d,g= voiced stops 



x=[1 

 1=[X] 

 ay=[ai] 

 v= nasalized vowel 



PRELIMINARIES 



At one point in history, probably not more than 70 years ago, 

 almost every Western Apache girl had a puberty ceremony, or na ih es 

 ('preparing her,' or 'getting her ready'). ^ Today this is no longer 

 true. In Cibecue, the ceremony is held only two or three times a 

 year and, in a number of other settlements on the Fort Apache 

 Reservation, it is not performed at all. Two reasons for this decline 

 are readily apparent. First, as a result of inroads made on the tradi- 

 tional religion by missionaries, some Apaches no longer believe in 

 the effectiveness of na ih es, that it will assure the pubescent girl, 

 among other things, of long life and prosperity. However, this 

 attitude is opposed by many older persons, notably those of the present 

 gTandparental generation, who still consider na ih es an extremely 

 important ceremony, and one from which the entire community, 



« Throughout Arizona, and In a great deal of the popular literature, na ih es is frequently referred to as 

 the "sunrise dance," a term which Apaches themselves use when speaking to Whites. 



