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>>[narration] Beneath White [br]Mountain, in New Mexico,

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the Mescalero Apache reservation [br]prepares for a coming of age ritual.

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Over the span of four days, [br]13 year old Dashena Cochise

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will pass through ancient tests

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of strength, endurance, and character [br]that will make her a woman.

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The Mescalero Apache hold the[br]ritual every Fourth of July,

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it is a grueling ordeal intended[br]to prepare girls for the trials of womanhood.

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>>[Millette] When she was a little girl,

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I knew this was what [br]I wanted to have for her.

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>>[narration] Dashena's mother, [br]Millette, has spent more than a year

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preparing for this week of ceremony.

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Family members and friends will help her [br]feed and care for more than 50 guests.

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The family's most important task is [br]selecting Dashena's Medicine Woman.

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Zelda Yazza will instruct Dashena in the [br]ways of traditional Apache womanhood.

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The four day ceremony encapsulates [br]the Apache creation story.

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Dashena will move through [br]the stages of life:

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infant, child, adolescent, woman,

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culminating in an all night dance [br]that will test her endurance.

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The ritual begins with the [br]rising of the morning star.

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The ceremony requires that [br]Dashena live by strict rules.

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These four days mean little sleep, scant food, [br]and the need to set aside emotion.

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Throughout the ordeal, she must [br]wear a face of stoic resolve.

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>>[Dashena] I'm very excited and [br]happy, even though I can't smile.

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I try to show it in some way.

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>>[narration] Before Dashena joins [br]the other girls, she is blessed,

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dusted with pollen [br]the symbol of fertility.

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The girls start their [br]journey in a sacred teepee

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built by their male relatives.

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The basket is filled with pollen [br]and other ceremonial objects.

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As their ancestors did, [br]the girls run toward the rising sun,

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circling the basket four times[br]to mark the four stages of life.

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The fourth and final day brings [br]Dashena to the cusp of womanhood.

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She ascends the hill to [br]pray to the mountain spirits

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for a long and successful life.

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With darkness near, it's time to [br]dance beside the ceremonial fire.

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Dashena and the other girls [br]will dance all night long,

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much of the time [br]hidden in big tepee.

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More than ten hours later, [br]Dashena is still dancing.

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The medicine men greet the sun, a[br]signal that the final test is near.

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The girls' faces are painted with [br]white clay, symbolizing the goddess.

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[br]On their last circuit [br]around the sacred basket,

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the girls wipe away[br]the symbolic clay.

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With the falling of the tepee, [br]their rite of passage is complete.

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Dashena receives her Apache [br]woman's name, Morning Star Feather.

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>>[Dashena] Morning Star Feather. [br]>>[Zelda Yazza] Morning Star Feather.

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Everything went well, [br]she's a strong woman.

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>>[narration] Her community gathers [br]acknowledging that this girl has

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earned the right to live [br]as a woman in the tribe.

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As an Apache woman, Dashena [br]serves as a symbol of her culture,

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renewing and protecting a way of [br]life that's in danger of vanishing.[br]