128 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



girl has her first period, the ceremony is held in July or August, usually 

 the latter. (It is interesting to note that parents welcome their 

 daughter's first menstruation in the fall or winter because this gives 

 them ample time to save up enough money for the dance.) The 

 Apache give two main reasons for preferring the summer months. 

 First, the evenings and nights are warm — ^ideal for the social dancing 

 which accompanies na ih es. Second, more people, notably high 

 school students, will be in Cibecue to attend the dance during the 

 summer than at any other time. Therefore, the ndeh guhyaneh 

 merely decide on an appropriate weekend, which must then be ap- 

 proved by the tribal council at Whiteriver.^ One informant said: 



I wanted a weekend when there are lots of people. We [the ndeh guhyaneh] 

 talked about it for a while and thought the weekend of the rodeo in Cibecue was 

 good. There would be lots of people there from Whiteriver and Cedar Creek. 

 Some San Carlos people might come too. Some White cowboys ride in that 

 rodeo and they come sometimes. I went to see the tribal council and they said 

 it was o.k. to have it then. 



Once a date has been selected, the task of picking a site at which 

 to hold na ih es confronts the ndeh guhyaneh. Necessary requisites 

 include an abundant source of water close at hand; proximity to a 

 large supply of wood; and ample space for the dance area, the dwellings 

 of the girl's close kin, and the close kin of na ihl esn. If the girl's own 

 camp or dwelling place is lacking, a location outside the community 

 is chosen, usually to the north (where there is more wood) and near 

 Cibecue Creek. 



One woman, who had given na ih es for her daughter, recalled: 



Our camp was no good for na ih es. It wasn't big enough to have a dance, 

 and there wasn't flat ground there. So we had it at "where the road crosses the 

 creek." That was a good place. There wasn't many stones or weeds there and 

 it was easy to make a place to dance. Trees were so we could use them as part 

 of the shades and the places we kept the tulipay ^ and groceries. [Another thing] 

 was that the cattle were close to that place so it was easy to get them to be 

 butchered. . . . 



SELECTION OF A MEDICINE MAN 



Another responsibility of the ndeh guhyaneh is the selection of a 

 medicine man or di' yin ('one who has power') to sing na ih es.^ Here, 

 a unique problem faces the people of Cibecue because there are no 

 medicine men left alive in the community who know the ceremony. 

 Therefore, a medicine man must be secured from elsewhere. 



» Practically all large ceremonials, such as na tt es, are held on weekends, enabling persons who hold jobs 

 outside of Cibecue to return and attend them. A favorite weekend for na ih es is July 4, when an all-Indian 

 rodeo Is held. 



» Tulipay Is a native liquor made frcan the fermented pulp of mashed corn shoots. 



'There are a few female shamans on the Apache reservations today, but these never sing na ih es 



