APACHE DEBUT

Originated in Shine's decision to withdraw from organized missionary service. He explained all this to his church officials, who disliking his severance, did grant his wish. The harvest of the years since has proven his step to have been of the greatest value to the Navajo people.

Shine is today without doubt one of the most oustanding of all the missionaries who have labored in the southwest, if not in all the west. That the Indians, even the old men and women clinging to their tribal religion, call him "brother," is sufficient proof of their complete acceptance of him.

His work is financed by whatever comes his way. His standing is not measured in dollars. Money to Shine Smith is personally nothing whatever. It is, however, a medium by which he can help the needy, whoever they may be.

Food, clothing, medicine he will produce by some means. Packages sent for distribution will reach a needy Navajo family if he has to flounder all night through December snows. His delight is to give food and toys and candy to Navajo children to demonstrate the white man's "Kismus" to them.

Any money that may be his personally goes into the same pot for others. Last summer a three-year-old girl fell out of a wagon near Kerley's trading post at Tuba City. Before it could be stopped the rear wheel ran over the child. When Shine and Ed Kerley got to the tiny body on the ground, she was dead. Shine knelt down in the sand and dirt and prayed. Then he gave his last eight dollars to a carpenter to make a small rough pine box to bury the little girl in.

Shine hasn't had the luxury of a new suit in years. But what of that? A few weeks ago a friend handed him $75.00 and told him to buy one. Right away Shine got to thinking not of the suit, but of the sum in terms of flour, sugar, milk, medicine and clothing of the simplest kind for Navajo children. He just couldn't spend that money on himself, a Navajo child needed it more.

He has no fear, and has actually faced death many times. Once he all but lost his life on the cliff facing old Lee's Ferry. Another time an Indian involved in witchcraft stopped Shine, walked up to him and said, "I am going to kill you." He held the gun in his hand. A few minutes later realizing Shine was not afraid to die, he asked why.

"I'm only sorry for you," Shine told him. "I will die, but you will pay the penalty for my death. I am sorry that you must suffer because of me."

The Indian looked astonished, then put his gun away. Finally he offered his hand saying, "You are right, my brother. I am the one who is wrong."

Shine says that one time in his life he got angry at a Navajo. He exclaimed at him, "You are crazy!"

"Yes. I know that," the Navajo replied gently. "I am also a son of a Navajo."

The Navajo, who thought so much of Shine, could not stand to see him lower himself by a display of temper. He therefore promptly made himself a little lower. From that moment Shine has never permitted himself to become angry at anyone.

There can be no question about Shine taking part in Indian ceremonies. He has. But how could this be otherwise when he lives with them? He is their friend; their big brother. Indeed, some of the most closely guarded secrets at which ethnologists can only guess, are his.

The tragedies of the Navajos are his tragedies. Their happiness is his happiness.

He forsook personal fortune and all else that he might devote his life to service in the cause of Navajo Indians. To that one ideal he has remained true and steadfast. Against all obstacles, and in the early years the greatest sort of discouragement, he has continued constant in that one ideal despite blows that would have brought down men of lesser strength of character than his.

In a green valley in the White Mountains of Arizona, the Apaches come from miles around to attend an Apache Puberty Ceremony. This is one of the most colorful of the Apache rites and to those who attend it means much dancing and feasting and the old stories told again.

Once upon a time there lived a mythical creature, White Painted Woman. Some Apaches call her Isdjanalijn. She had a son Nayenezganin. These two mythical persons represent the forces which made and still maintain the world.The myth of White Painted Woman establishes the rite which sets the stage for one of the most dramatic of all Apache ceremonies. Through this rite it is her duty to ritually conduct each Apache maid through girlhood, young womanhood, maturity, and into peaceful old age, Symbolically this mythical creature prepares the young girl for a full life in Apacheland.

And this is how it is done. This is the puberty rite or the "Coming Out Ceremony" for the Apache debutante.

In Arizona, the rite often takes place in the beautiful White Mountain country of the east central part of the state. A great grassy meadow might be chosen. In recent years, the fair grounds at Whiteriver have been favored, with several girls enjoying the presentation rites simultaneously in early July.

By Clara Lee Tanner

The Holy Home of White Painted Woman is built in a great open space, with pines or juniper bordering the chosen spot. Here four spruce trees are cut, and all save the topmost branches are stripped from the slender poles. These are leaned together so that the few remaining leaves might mingle to form the only would-be covering for the sacred bower. Thus the Holy Home of White Painted Woman is set up, "with song it is set up," as the Apaches say. Every girl in Apacheland is normally accorded this ritual. A father, an uncle, some male relative with the necessary worldly goods, takes it upon himself to see to it that Often it takes some months to collect the necessary goods and equipment for a rite befitting the position of an Apache girl whose family holds some high station in native society. And, like a white family presenting a daughter in a fashionable debut, the best is none too good. It may be added, too, that as in the case of the white girl, the Indian maid's family thus designates her marriageable state. In fact, the legend upon which the rite is based states that before the ceremony the initiate is a girl, after it she is a woman; before the ritual she is not marriageable, after it, she is.

Thus preparations may begin months ahead, for the girl herself must have the best of garments. Those who assist in the rite must be provided with suitable gifts. And all who attend the rite, even should the number include several hundred persons, must be fed.

The Apache Indians have one of the finest grapevine systems. Quite miraculously word gets about that a girl is to have a party on a certain date. No invitations are sent out; neither could the family ever get direct word to all who attend. But somehow the families scatter-ed for miles over the Reservation hear about the coming event. As a matter of fact, any member of the Apache tribe feels welcome at a puberty rite, and many will attend without invitation.

Without fail, then, the dozens of friends and acquaintances of the girl's family begin to drift toward the appointed spot. On horseback they come, in wagons covered and uncovered. Autos old and worn, or new and shiny will gather about the edge of the open area. Strangely enough, the various modes of conveyance tend to melt into the background-it is only as they approach that one is aware of them.

The crowd at an Apache Coming Out ceremony is a most colorful one. Women wear their very best, men sport their gayest. The Apache woman has preserved a great, full, sweeping skirt and a loose blouse as her typical costume, a hangover from days gone by. The dress is made of a bright print material as a rule, though in more recent years the gay and shiny rayons have become favorites and have added much color to such gatherings. The Apache woman usually indulges in a special shampoo for such occasions, and wears her glossy black locks loose about her shoulders.

Apache men might be shy in a drawing room, but there are no inhibitions expressed about the choice of color for shirts. Beneath their large stetsons, of as many "gallons" as they can afford to buy, they sport cerise, bright green, gay blue, or other brilliantly colored shirts. Levis and boots complete their costumes.

Most colorful of all in matters pertaining to dress is the young girl to be initiated. Her dress will be of the deepest purple, or the gayest yellow; the bands of contrasting color bordering heavy flounces will be broader than any others. And her hair will be so recently shampooed, during the early part of the ritual, in fact, that it will outshine all other heads! The dress of the girl for whom the party is being given will often require even more than the usual fifteen yards. It will take some time to make, also, yet the task involved is in no way comparable with ceremonial dress making of the past. In the old days, it took two buckskins to make the shirt, two for the skirt, and one for the high moccasins. After "catching" and preparing these many skins, the garments were ritually made and decorated with symbols of the sun, the morning star, the moon, and the rainbow. And, so say the old Apaches, the dress must "be blessed as well

Throughout the rites the initiate is accompanied by her godmother, whose role in thisage-old Coming Out Ceremony is important one.

as beautifully finished."

The young initiate must be accompaniedthroughout the rite by a godmother. Thismay be any woman in the tribe of reputablecharacter. She is chosen by the girl's family,and is often a close friend. Her dress is freshand new, too, and is second only to the girl'scostume in fullness of skirt and brightness ofcolor.

Essential to any puberty rite is the medicineman or singer. It is he who knows and chantsthe many prayers which are ritually necessaryto make possible the fulfillment of the fourdays' activities. He has had training and experience for some years so that he may doall things perfectly, to make more effective thepassage from girlhood to womanhood.

Forever after the girl will have a fond placein her heart for the singer who performed ather introduction to Apache life. To him shewill present a costly gift at the end of theritual. In the old days she gave him a horse.

Backing up the medicine man, especially inthe public parts of the ritual, is a small groupof Apache men who beat drums and sing.They will perform not only for the moreserious ritual itself, but also for the largegathering so that all may indulge in socialdancing.

Typical of so many Indian rituals, theApache puberty rite is of dual character: ithas a lighter and heavier side. The ceremonyprepares the girl for the fullness and serious-ness of Apache adult life; it also brings bless-ings upon the entire tribal group. Fully awareof these two more serious aspects, the averageattendant at a puberty rite has a third and far

Families attend, from babes on cradle boards to white haired grandmothers, much time is consumed around the family fire. Families and friends sit about campfires, on the ground, sipping black coffee, and quietly visiting. The gayest time of all begins in the evening when great crackling bonfires are kindled. Slowly the crowd gathers, as if drawn by some invisible magnet. Drumming and singing go on at the edge of the fire light, continuing far into the night, swelling, subsiding. Then, without fanfare or signal, social dancing begins. Several men link arms and dance in a shuffling step toward several women who stand in the shadows, also with arms linked. This is an invitation to dance. All of them shuffling now, the men and women move slowly into the full light of the fire. Soon there are many groups about the fire, dancing toward and away from each other. As the crowd "warms up," long rows of men and women with arms linked dance clockwise about the great fire. Soon there is nothing visible but a slowly shuffling mass of bright garments and dark skins and dust! Late in the evening Devil Dancers will appear, four of them and a clown. Their dramatic entrance is announced by high pitched, eerie shouting coming from scantily clothed, white painted, wildly gyrating bodies. They wear large head pieces made of carved and painted slats, often with additional decorations of small fragments of colored glass which reflect the fire light as the four dancers jerk their heads this way and that. These Devil Dancers are mountain gods who have come down in the darkness of the eveOn rugs the initiate is molded and rubbed by her godmother to prove her sturdiness and to insure good disposition.

Beginning to entertain the crowd at the dance and to drive away evil. They will dance for a short time, occasionally letting out a "whoop and a holler." Then they disappear again into the night, to return to the fastness of their mountain homes until the time of the next puberty rite. During the four days ritual, the initiate has worn a lovely beaded necklace, T-shaped and of many colors. On the last evening, when the Devil Dancers appear about the fire, the girl is led to the sacred bower by the medicine man. Here he performs special rites over the necklace, paying tribute to it in song. The necklace is symbolic of lifelong wealth. Now and then during the evening, the young initiate will be seen, usually dancing alone. She is lovely as she stands in the firelight in her bright dress. She holds in her hand a long staff which is decorated with gay streamers. To her forehead is tied a fragment of shell. Occasionally one sees the two feathers on the back of her head as the gentle breezes toss them into view. As the night wears on, the crowd slowly disperses. Young couples, however, linger into the small hours. Dancing in the shadows, it is now boy and girl alone, arms linked, a common blanket about their shoulders. The Coming Out ceremony serves still another purposehere young people meet and court, here marriages are made. Some of the most impressive of all the rites in this puberty ceremony occur on the last morning. Pollen, mixed with corn meal, is sprinkled from the tips of feathers, onto the crowd. This blessing is made so that peace,