Sunrise dance for 4 days: View Image: NPR

I remember that I was living inside and outside the reservation of Yavabay Apacc I was running around the barefoot reservation for all the homes of my cousins. We climbed all over the light brown community building whenever there was a large community feast. With the fall of the night, we were gathering in the building of the small management of the cultural class. We were sitting in the separation with the faces drawn with dirt, chaotic hair and fear throughout our shirts. We had no restrictions (except for the caves hiding under the cliff that overlooking the Verdi River; the caves were our ancestors and outside), but we went everywhere.

When I reached an era in which I can apply for a job with the nation, I went to work with my grandmother Elizabeth Smith Rocha and her sister Rebecca Smith Pavatea. My grandmother taught me a lot and made me the first Boxkin dress and Apache shoes so that I could run for Miss Teen for my nation. While working and living with my grandmother during the summer, I learned the beads and the Apache camp dresses, about the culture and language of Apache.

But there was one part of my culture that I did not learn (I think I was already old): Apache Sunrise dance.

Sunrise dance is an upcoming four-day party-an important and spiritual event for the young lady and the Apache community.

It was not even started working in the country’s memorization and technology department. One of my colleagues was ready to hold her daughter’s dance, and we all helped her prepare for a week -long celebration.

To help collect sacred things, the family is preparing to dance a year ago. In the week before the ceremony, society reduces cotton wood trees and collects Yuka plants and other dance supplies. Each of the community comes out and helps in preparing food, construction camp, drilling, sewing camps and any booked work that needs to be repaired. We also help slaughter a cow that feeds the family and society.

We all rise before the sun rises to help accomplish as much as possible before the hot summer Arizona sun rises, and we are at home long after the moon started in the middle of the night. By the end of the weekend, both camps for young women and women are complete. The women’s room is filled with women with the colored Apache camp dress, carvas and her clothes, which you will wear for the next four days.

Our ancestors delivered the sunrise party. The young woman temporarily became an embodiment of the white -woman – our first lady, our mother’s mother. During the four -day ceremony, the young woman moves to adulthood through the blessings of the song and dance.

The white woman was a model of the championship and respected femininity: when the evil monsters hunted the people of Apache, the absolute white woman gave birth to a son destroying creatures to help make the land residence for humanity. During dance, the young woman is not referred to as her name, but is known as White Painted Woman.

Throughout the celebration of four days of celebration and events, the young woman is directed and listened to by the medical man.

She is dancing for many hours throughout the four days to show her strength. Relatives and friends sing dozens of traditional songs, and private dancers accompany them at the right times. During one of the songs, she dances on her knees, raised her hands towards the sun. She also receives a message from her godmother that helps her stay strong throughout her life.

The young lady has a hostess during the dance to help her during her journey. This first presence is a person who has already gone through her own concert. The accompaniment is provided with the young lady with a wooden straw that you must drink for four days, and does not allow water to touch her lips. It is also prohibited for the young woman to spread her hair or adjust her clothes, so the accompanying helps her in any modification she needs – even scratching itching on her body.

By the end of the fourth day, the young woman was drawn in white with the white clay that the white mountain surrounding our community was collected. It is painted in white by crown dancers and its godfather to help her not to become the elderly and grow white hair.

Alejandra Rubio is a photographer based in Nevada and a member of Javabay Apache Nation, located in Camp Verde, ARIS, you can see more Alejandra works on her website, alejandra-rubio.comOr on Instagram, on @alejandra.rubio_alex.