Here we go again lolz

[Diamond_1028]

I thought this was a snake site but since a few people asked what my race is because they seen I grew on a reservation (I talked about it a few times) but I am full blooded Apache Indian even though my natural blue eyes might fool you but I speak the language and everything . Apache Indian is Native American. Yes I love my funny name, Destiny Diamond Fallingleaf. There's certain tribes of Apache and Im Chiricahua Apache. I did have a Sunrise Ceremony, theyre awesome only if you know how to party that long haha and No Im not an alcoholic for those who wana act smart and yes I am proud to say my dad does own a Casino But here's some info you may wana know if you dont know much and are interested:


APACHE TRIBAL NATION




The word "apache" comes from the Yuma word for "fighting-men" and from the Zuni word meaning "enemy." The Apache tribe consists of six subtribes: the Western Apache, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Jicarilla, Lipan and Kiowa. Each subtribe is from a different geographial region. They are composed of six regional groups: Western Apache - Coyotero - most of eastern Arizona which include the White Mountain, Cibuecue, San Carlos, and Northern and Southern Tonto bands. It is possible, due to their nomadic nature, that several names were used to identify the same tribe. The Anglo theory is the Apache Indian migrated to the Southwest from Northern Canada in the 1500's. The Apache indian history says it was the other way around, that most of the Athapaskan speaking people migrated to the North and a few stayed in their homeland. In any event, it is generally agreed that about 5,000 Apaches lived in the Southwest at the end of the 1600's.

Apaches belong to the Southern Athapascan linguistic family.

The Apache tribe occupied the mountains and plains of southern Arizona and New Mexico, and also in Mexico.

The primitive dress of the men was deerskin shirt, leggings, and moccasins. They were never without a loin-cloth. A deerskin cap with attractive symbolic ornamentation was worn. The women wore short deerskin skirts and high boot top moccasins.

Chiricahua - southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and adjacent Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora - The band was the informal political unit, consisting of followers and a headman. They had no formal leader such as a tribal chief, or council, nor a decision making process. The core of the band was a "relative group," predominantly, but not nessarily, kinsmen. Named by the Spanish for the mescal cactus the Apaches used for food, drink, and fiber. The basic shelter of the Chiricahua was the domeshaped wickiup made of brush. Similar the Navajo, they also regarded coyotes, insects, and birds as having been human beings; the human race, then, but following in the tracks of those who have gone before.

Mescalero - Faraon - live east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, with the Pecos River as their eastern border

Jicarilla - Tinde - southeastern Colorado, northern New Mexico, and northwest Texas - During their zenith in the SouthWest, two divisions of the Jicarilla Apache were known: the Llanero, or "plains people," and the Hoyero, the "mountain people." They roamed from central and eastern Colorado into western Oklahoma, and as far south as Estancia, New Mexico. As a result of their eastern contacts, the Jicarilla adopted certain cultural traits of the Plains Indians, as did the Mescalero who also ranged the eastern plains. From an estimated population of 800 Jicarilla in 1845, the tribe today numbers about 1,800.

The Jicarilla (little basketmakers) are of the Athabascan language group and anthropologists say that these people came from Canada down the eastern flanks of the Rocky Mountains about 1300-1500 AD.

All tribes deny the migration theories and say that they have always been here:

The First People.

Though limited to using dogs as pack animals, the Jicarilla were the most successful raiders. When the Spaniards brought horses once again to North America (the previous horses had been eaten long before) the Jicarilla took full advantage.

They were not recognized as being distinctive from the other southern Athabascans: Chiricahuas, Navajos, Western Apaches, Mescaleros, Kiowa Apaches, and Lipans, until about 1700. Jicarilla are further identified as the plains people (Llaneros), and the mountain-valley people (Olleros) or Hoyero.

Their name for themselves is Tinde. But names that have been or are used by others than themselves are:

Mexican Spanish: Jicarilla, literally "little basket."
Navajo: Be'-xai, or Pex'-ge
Mescalero: Kinya-inde
Kiowa: Keop-tagui, "mountain Apache."
Picuris: Pi'-ke-e-wai-i-ne
Mescalero: Tashi'ne
Tesuque: Tu-sa-be'


FOOD

All Apache rely primarily on hunting of wild game and gathering of cactus fruits and other wild plant foods.

Hunting is a part of daily life - for food, clothing, shelter, blankets. Apache hunted deer, wild turkeys, jackrabbits, coyote, javelin, fox, beavers, buffalo, bears, mountain lions. There was no fishing. Eagles were hunted for their feathers. Two or three feathers were plucked from a bald eagle instead of being hunted for food.

Food was important to the Apache. Prairie dogs, snakes, turkeys, and fish in the Apache tribe were believed to be unclean so they didn't eat them. Apache boys were taught to move quickly and quietly through the forest to catch food for their family. Every Apache male hunted. The first thing an Apache male did before hunting was greased his body with animal fat to keep out the smell of a person and make the person smell like an animal so the animals wouldn't smell the person and run away.

They exchanged buffalo hides, tallow and meat, bones that could be worked into needles and scrapers for hides, and salt from the desert with the Pueblos for pottery, cotton, blankets, turquoise, corn and other goods. But at times they simply saw what they wanted and took it. They became known among the Pueblo villages by another name, Apachu, "the enemy".




RELIGION AND CEREMONIES:

The ceremonies are invariably called "dances." Among these are the rain dance, a puberty right, the sunrise dance for young women, a harvest and good crop dance, and a spirit dance. The Apache are devoutly religious and pray on many occasions and in various ways. Recreated in the human form, Apache spirits are supposed to dwell in a land of peace and plenty, where there is neither disease or death.

SONG OF APACHE INDIANS

HUH WUHLI NICH

Ha- nam-a yo- o ya hai huh-wurt . . .
far on the dessert redges stands the cactus

Ka- na - hu- va muh- muhk
lo the blossoms swaying

Ka- cho-wuch-chi ka-no- ya ki-moi
to and fro the blossoms swaying, swaying


SUNRISE DANCE: Women

From early spring to late fall, Apache girls reaching maturity are honored by their tribe with the Sunrise Dance. This ancient ritual is a test of a girl's endurance and discipline, and a celebration of her womanhood. The Sunrise Dance typically lasts four days. During this time, the girl being honored is dancing almost constantly, to the accompaniment of over 100 songs. Although she is assisted by her godparents and friends, it's a difficult task. Each stage of the ceremony is precisely choreographed, and the girl is not permitted to falter. Beverly Malone, a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, is with the Fort Apache Cultural Center in Arizona. She tells us about the teachings contained in the songs and the symbols of the ceremony.

"This particular dance teaches Apache values of language, culture, food and love, prayers, respect, wisdom, cooperation, appreciation and endurance."

The Indian dancers used ankle wraps to accompany their dances. There are bells atatched to a strap of leather. When you move your leg the ankle wrap rattles and jingles. They also placed these on their knees, elbows, or ankles.

For most of the four days and nights, to songs and prayers, they dance, as well as run toward the four directions. During this time, they also participate in and conduct sacred rituals, receiving and giving both gifts and blessings, and experiencing their own capacity to heal.

In the early 1900s, when the U.S. government banned Native American spiritual practices and rituals, conducting the Sunrise Ceremony was an illegal act; as a result, its practice diminished, and those ceremonies that did occur were conducted secretly.

Women play a vital role in Apache culture, and the Sunrise Dance is a way for the entire community to recognize and celebrate the meaning and value of womanhood.

"Usually the women are the main ones that are the teachers, and they are the stronghold for the family. The children claim their mom's side of the clan, and the father's clan is just like the distant family clan. It's the woman that holds the family together -- that's the boss in the family."

The Apaches were hunter, farmers and seed gatherers. They knew every land feature in the plains. Apache women built irrigation ditches and planted corn. The crops were not very good, so hunters searched the land for deers, gophers, wild turkeys and lizards. The women gathered cactus fruit and acorns. The Apache loved raiding and warfare, and boys were trained for warfare since they were born. They could walk for miles without any food or water . They learned to hunt, stand guard, keep silent,and send and read smoke signals. When the boys were 15 years old they were ready to go to war. Young girls were trained by their mothers to do the household chores. The girls married very young. The daughters husband was not aloud to talk or see their mother-in-law.

Not until 1978, when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, was the Sunrise Ceremony openly re-established on most reservations. But even today, because of the expense and time involved - which also includes four days of preparation and four days of teaching and recovery - some girls celebrate for one or two days, rather than have four day ceremonies. The families of girls entering puberty in a particular year may also sponsor joint Sunrise ceremonies, in which two or more newly menstruating girls celebrate the rites of Changing Women together.


Cheif Geronimo