142 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



Four to six men, stripped of all clothing except their shorts, enter a 

 specially prepared sweat house where one of them causes hot steam to 

 form by pouring water over a pile of heated stones. The men remain 

 wdthin until they have sung four songs, after which they come out and 

 lie down on the ground or swim in the nearby creek.^^ The length of 

 one 4-song set varies, depending on the duration of the songs and the 

 time between them, but it rarely exceeds 12 minutes. Gish ih zha ha 

 aldeh, the sweat bath before na ih es, begins about 8 o'clock in the 

 morning. It consists of from 9 to 12 song sets (in which only songs 

 from the na ih es corpus are sung) and generally lasts about 3 hours. 



While the medicine man, and those who are called his helpers, work 

 on the ritual paraphernalia, 20 to 30 male relatives of the pubescent 

 girl and na ihl esn take sweat baths. They welcome gish ih zha ha 

 aldeh as an opportunity to get away from the women (who are never 

 permitted to attend ta chih) and there is much joking and laughter. 

 At least four times during the proceedings the medicine man stops 

 working and enters the sweat house where he starts each of the four 

 songs. ^^ His helpers, on the other hand, wait until their work on the 

 paraphernalia is nearly finished before going inside. 



Seated on the ground around a large tarpaulin, they work quietly 

 and deliberately. They do not participate very much in the joking 

 which goes on about them. Selected by the girl's father and the 

 medicine man, they are fuUy aware that the hurried or shoddy manu- 

 facture of ritual items would render na ih es grossly incomplete and 

 ineffective. One informant said: 



Each one of those things has to be perfect. They are what the girl prays with. 

 If they are messy or fall apart or something goes wrong with them, the prayer 

 won't be any good. 



Before na ih es, the paraphernalia is not considered "holy." It 

 becomes so only during na ih es and for 4 days thereafter, when the 

 pubescent girl has power. ^^ 



Around 11 o'clock a man comes from the dance ground and tells 

 the men who have taken sweat baths, most of whom are now lounging 

 around almost completely naked, to get dressed. Presently, a line 

 of women appears, carrying cans of tuUpay, beef, corn, potatoes, and 

 coffee. This procession is led by the pubescent girl who presents a 

 basket full of freshly made tortillas to the medicine man. In return, 

 she is given the ritual paraphernalia and is told to take it directly to 



•5 Qhh ih zha ha aldeh is generally held on the bank of Cibccue Creek, some 400-500 yards from the dance 

 ground. 



IS The medicine man does not take sweat baths at regularly spaced Intervals. He enters the sweat house 

 whenever he chooses. 



" That the ritual items have no power until na ih es may account for the relaxed and Joking nature of 

 etsh ih zha ha aldeh. Apaches act differently around paraphernalia which has been used in a ceremony. 

 They become nervous and tense and almost always dispose of the items right away. 



