No!^ 76]^' ^^^'^ ^^ CHANGING WOMAN — ^BASSO 143 



her wickiup. If, as sometimes happens, the ritual items are not 

 ready, the girl returns to the dance ground and receives them later in 

 the day. This meal (which the men enjoy alone since the women 

 depart immediately) signifies the end of gish ih zha ha aldeh. 



THE RITUAL PARAPHERNALIA 



Longevity, the most important quahty bestowed on the pubescent 

 girl, is symbolized by a decorated wooden staff, called gish ih zha ha 

 ('cane'), with which the girl dances throughout the ceremony and 

 which, years later, she uses as a walking stick (fig. 6, lejt)}^ 



During na ih es, she dances with that to make her live many years. After na 

 ih es she keeps it in her wickiup and when she gets old, and has trouble walking 

 long ways, she uses it to help her out in that. 



Resembling a modern walking cane in appearance, gish ih zha ha 

 is made from a hardwood (sycamore or oak) ". . . so it won't snap 

 when she gets old." It is painted yellow and may vary in length from 

 32 to 50 inches. Three or four days before gish ih zha ha aldeh, one 

 of the gui's male relatives cuts a straight stick of wood. He strips 

 off the bark and fashions the crook by bending over one end and 

 fastening it securely with a rawhide thong. At gish ih zha ha aldeh, 

 the medicine man or one of his helpers covers the cane with a mixture 

 of yellow ocher and water. ^^ When this paint is dry, two eagle 

 tail feathers are tied to the rawhide thong, which has been left in place. 

 To the base of one feather a turquoise bead is attached; to the other, 

 two orange oriole feathers. The eagle feathers are intended to protect 

 the girl from certain kinds of sickness. The oriole feathers serve a 

 different purpose. The oriole. Apaches think, is an exceptional bird 

 because, as one man put it: 



It never says bad words and is happy all the time. It always talks good, and 

 minds its own business and never gets into fights. Every day, the same way with 

 that bird. Always acting good. It is thought that the oriole feathers will cause 

 the girl to have a good disposition when she grows up. 



Turquoise is ubiquitous at all ceremonies. Equally omnipresent, 

 at na ih es, are the four ribbons (black, green, yellow, and tan) which 

 symbolize the cardinal directions, and which are attached to the 

 rawhide thong on the cane. All informants had diflSculty in stating 

 the precise meaning of these items. A typical comment follows. 



I don't know what those things are in na ih es. We always carry turquoise 

 with us. We pray with that. Everybody has one. In all dances [ceremonies] 



n Decorated for na ih es, the cane is called gish ih zha ha. Unadorned, and used as a walking stick, It is 

 called zii kish. 



" The yellow ocher from which this paint Is made comes from a small salt spring In Salt River Canyon, 

 about 40 miles by car from Cibecue. In order to extract the "yellow mud," the following procedure Is 

 observed. A small piece of turquoise is thrown into the spring, after which the ocher may be scooped out 

 with the right hand. Apaches claim if they tried to collect the ocher without first putting a turquoise in 

 the spring, a rattlesnake would emerge from It and strike them. 



