The Mountain Spirits and the Old Woman, Chiricahua Apache Text excerpted from Chiricahua Apache Texts, with Ethnological Notes |
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Ethnological Notes
Morris Opler
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 | The Mountain Spirits and the Old Woman, Chiricahua Apache Text |  |
Ethnological Notes Morris Opler
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Ethnological Note 2
This motif of a person cured or aided by some supernatural agency which thereupon instructs him in a ceremony, is a common one in Apache ritualism and is especially characteristic of the Mountain Spirit ceremonies.
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Ethnological Note 3
This sentence must not lead one to think that there is but one Mountain Spirit ceremony and that this is its origin story. The old woman's ceremony would be followed only by those to whom she [with approval of her power] handed down her lore. Other shaman's and their descendants, controlled Masked Dancer ceremonies obtained from the Mountain Spirits of other localities, and all these rites, though they exhibited a definite common pattern, were dissimilar in detail. Incidentally, this story evidences that women as well as men were the recipients of significant supernatural experiences and rites. [See also Chiricahua texts 34 and 35].
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