Full transcript
0:04the ceremony tells the story just like
0:08in the Christian book of Genesis from
0:11the beginning of time tells about how
0:15the universe was created how the world
0:19was created that we came about and our
0:25culture and tradition is extremely
0:27important because it helps guide us
0:30my granddaughter that's heaven and
0:32ceremony she really into our tribe
0:36always keep her strong the rest of her
0:38life and not only that but to keep the
0:42tribe strong
0:47[Music]
1:00when I hit puberty we have this ceremony
1:03for the girls that are becoming into
1:06womanhood to become young ladies
1:10after the ceremony will give me a lot of
1:13respect as you know maybe makes me very
1:16proud that I'm representing my tribe
1:20there's four days we do everything in
1:22four for the four sacred mountains you
1:27go through a baby to a child to a
1:30teenager and then to a woman she's
1:35tested kind of through hardships four
1:37days of hard work it tried to keep as
1:50traditional as you can and you live in a
1:52tepee for the 12 days the four days
1:55before the for many days and the four
1:57days after every night you dance and the
2:01fourth night you dance all night and
2:02then while they're dancing outside you
2:04dance in your big Tippi in your home
2:10your medicine man after he's done eating
2:13with you he gives you an Apache name
2:16mine was Esau and 70 and it's the lady
2:19who you first see this tradition they
2:23amazed me a lot like I learned new
2:25things from my grandpa and the ladies
2:28around here they like it when the old
2:30women have their feast it took me about
2:45three years to prepare for the ceremony
2:48and I'm still preparing you think you
2:51have all of it but you know it's a lot
2:54to do get into Indian food buying gifts
2:57to pay the people that held the material
3:00so if I spent like $10,000 but I would
3:04do it again to keep the tradition going
3:16[Music]
3:23now that I've had my feast I feel like I
3:26can become stronger now you just felt
3:32different while you were doing it like
3:34it felt like you were living a long time
3:36ago and you didn't have to worry about
3:38all this stuff that's happening in the
3:39world
3:45when you run on the first day they bring
3:48it in and showing that you're like come
3:51like the kids coming in and on the last
3:53day you run out and you try to run as
3:55far as you can lot more families are
4:01going through the rites of passage and
4:03then before there's a renewed interest
4:08in it and they finally get to know that
4:10is a strength of our people and lies
4:13with that they're able to do things that
4:18before they were not able to the US
4:22government prohibited a lot of this
4:24stuff the families just to have a dinner
4:27and buy a new dress or something and
4:29then don't take part in these ceremonies
4:34[Music]
4:39they're taught to hate themselves and
4:42the schools they would not allow you to
4:44speak an Apache and deal with these
4:47things in the pantry and the churches -
4:49they turn us against one another our own
4:52tribal members they say that our ways
4:55are wicked and it's worship in the devil
4:57and they don't realize what's happening
4:59to them
5:03[Music]
5:14my granddaughter that's heaven her
5:16ceremony no matter what
5:19she'll never set aside her call for a
5:21tradition or lounge for anybody she's a
5:25direct descendant of my grandpa Geronimo
5:28some spiritual powers and he was able to
5:31deal with on hardships not only is he an
5:36icon for the entire native tribes but
5:40also for us Apache I rely on these
5:56traditional healing practices from my
5:58grandma she's been teaching me a lot
6:00about these she's been teaching me how
6:02to use the plants where they come from
6:04how they were all the woman's are known
6:07as this healers because the men they
6:09used to go off to war and once they come
6:11back someone won't be sick so the woman
6:13would have to gather these buttons for
6:14them to help feel them so they'll be
6:16ready for the next one and then the
6:19dancers danced around me and they
6:20blessed me
6:33Julie's my great-granddaughter I'm
6:36showing her things like traditional
6:38foods and traditional ways how to grow
6:42up and be a good lady later on an apache
6:46woman should know how to care for her
6:48family and just pass things down that
6:50their grandmother's taught them and
6:52their mothers
6:54[Music]
6:57a lot of people don't understand some of
7:00the things that we do like when our
7:02tribe gets together to eat the man folks
7:05eat first because they have to be
7:08prepared at all times they have to
7:11protect the tribe so they eat first and
7:13then some people don't understand that
7:16then they think that the woman has a
7:18lower status and lower position now what
7:21could not be further from the truth most
7:23sacred ones in our tribe are the woman
7:27so we have to protect them take care of
7:29them
7:33we have a few hardships within our tribe
7:36with the nuclear waste issues before
7:39they try to dump the nuclear waste on
7:42our land have we fought against it and
7:45we fought against the mining of some of
7:47the rare minerals on our land and now
7:50we're facing that the refining companies
7:52that want to come in and pollute and
7:55destroy the atmosphere so we face
7:57challenges every day but with this rite
8:00of passage that my granddaughter's going
8:02through it gives us the strength when we
8:05sing and pray it revives us in renews
8:09our strength
8:10you can face any challenges and they
8:13don't feel threatened
8:22[Laughter]
8:27[Music]
8:59[Laughter]
9:05some girls have breaks in the middle of
9:08the night they sleep for an hour and
9:09they get back up and keep doing it
9:11but I kind of don't want to break like I
9:13want to keep doing it because the longer
9:15you do it the stronger you get there's
9:21no words to describe how I feel to see
9:24who's going through it and I see the
9:27whole family pitching in and they're
9:29working hard
9:31there's no way to repay them for
9:33everything that they do except to take
9:36part continue to take part and all the
9:40things that was given to me throughout
9:42the years the only way I can paid back
9:44just pass it on down to my people
9:50[Music]
10:06[Music]
10:17[Applause]
10:18[Music]
10:26[Music]
10:42[Applause]
10:58[Music]