Mescalero Apache Coming of Age Ritual

Overview

• Location: Beneath White Mountain, New Mexico.
• Occasion: Coming of Age ritual for the Mescalero Apache.
• Duration: Four days.
• Purpose: To transition 13-year-old Dashina Cois into womanhood through tests of strength, endurance, and character.

Significance

• Held every 4th of July.
• Designed to prepare girls for womanhood.
• Involves extensive preparation and participation from family and friends.

Preparation

• Mother's Role: Mallette has prepared for over a year.
• Family's Role: Feeding and caring for over 50 guests.
• Medicine Woman: Zelda Yazza guides Dashina in traditional Apache womanhood.

Ceremony Details

• Represents the Apache creation story.
• Dashina embodies stages of life: infant, child, adolescent, and woman.

Ritual Elements

• Morning Star: Ritual begins with its rising.
• Rules: Little sleep, scant food, and emotional restraint.
• Symbolism: Dusted with pollen for fertility; sacred tepee built by male relatives.

Stages of the Ritual

1. Blessing: Dashina is blessed and dusted with pollen.
2. Sacred Tepee: Built by male relatives.
3. Running: Girls run toward the rising sun, circling a basket four times (stages of life).
4. Prayer: Ascending a hill to pray to Mountain Spirits.
5. All-night Dance: Dance beside ceremonial fire, hidden in the big tepee.
6. White Clay: Girls’ faces painted, representing the goddess.
7. Final Test: Wiping away symbolic clay, ending the rite with the falling of the tepee.

Completion

• Dashina receives her Apache woman’s name: Morning Star Feather.
• Community acknowledgment of her transition into womanhood.
• Symbolizes cultural renewal and preservation.

Cultural Importance

• Emphasizes continuity and preservation of Apache traditions.
• Serves as a celebration and reaffirmation of cultural identity.