I have read a few books on tribes and traditions and the Yavapai Apache tribe of Arizona is one of my absolute favorites; I read this book by the NY times bestselling author, Kennedy Ryan and the story’s heroine, is a proud member of the Yavapai Apache Nation, an American Indian tribe. She is smart, well educated and in every way, a modern American woman but she refuses to let go of her traditions and culture that she is so proud of (she later ends up being the campaign manager of the US presidential candidate and contributes to her community).

Some tribes mark the transition from girl to young woman through a puberty ceremony known by various names. This story pulled from the Western Apache’s version of this rite of passage, generally known as the Sunrise Ceremony or Sunrise Dance, ingrains in young girls the qualities deemed important for adulthood. The completion of this rite holds consequences for the entire community—blessings, health and longevity. For the four days of the ceremony, the young girl is believed to be imbued with the power of Changing Woman, the first woman, according to the tribe’s origin story.

Banned in the late 1800s by the US Government in an attempt to Westernize and assimilate Native people, such ceremonies became illegal, necessitating they be practiced in secret until 1978 when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act passed and they were finally free to practice their traditions. This rite of passage is sacred and pivotal in the life and development of many young Yavapai- Apache women.

I was so inspired by their story that I went on and read so many other books and articles and watched documentaries;

References:

• Survival of the Yavapai by Frieda Ann Eswonia.

• Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan.

• WNN documentary on the Sunrise Dance.

• An exploration of the coming of age rituals and rites of passage in a modern era

by Ron Fritz TEDxBend.

• Marie Versini in a German movie ‘Winnetou and Old Shatterhand’ (1964).