Gift of the Changing Woman

Seymour, who researched Apache traditions for When the Rainbow Touches Down , her examination of Native American art, here offers a detailed description of that nation's Na'ii'ees ceremony, known in English as the Gift of Changing Woman. An elaborate four-day celebration, it marks the transition from girlhood to womanhood. Seymour scrupulously if laboriously explains Apache spiritual beliefs as she discusses the significance of each part of the ritual and the roles played by the girl's family, godparents, the medicine man and the Gaan , four dancers who represent the Mountain Spirits. The book is dedicated to the late Philip Cassadore, an Apache medicine man who conducted a ceremony attended by Seymour in 1984. Sprinkled throughout the text, Cassadore's observations and interpretations (as well as those of his sister, who had her own Na'ii'ees ceremony) lend the account an immediacy and authenticity. Pictures by nine Apache artists help convey the event's grandeur and pageantry. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)