Black hooded and accompanied by drums and chanting the Apache Mountain Spirit dancers can appear very menacing, but this is not a dance of war. The Gaan or Gaa'he dancers perform this sacred dance to awaken the Mountain Spirits. The Apache people believe Spirits inhabit the mountains and live in trees, rocks, and in the wind. These Spirits can heal illnesses and will protect the people against diseases and other misfortunes. The distinctive headdress is made of wooden slats and is adorned with colorful paintings symbolic of the sacred medicine wheel and the four points or directions. The dancers wear a buckskin kilt layered with fringe. They stomp the ground and strike two wooden swords together. On their boots and around their waist are clusters of jingles, with all the noise they hope to awaken the spirits. There are many interpretation for the sacred Medicine Wheel and the four directions, represented by a cross. One belief is there were four original tribes placed on earth by the creator. Each tribe was given the same teaching but each teaching was from a different perspective. The people of the four tribes had to seek each other out and share their knowledge so all would grow greater in Spirit. I only have one dancer but there would be four Mountain Spirit Dancers and a trickster, sometimes a boy from the tribe, to perform the ritual of "clowning". To find more information search for "Apache Crown Dancers". ------------------- The hood and kilt are dynamic cloth, the fringe on the kilt and boots was made using displacement. Thank you for visiting and for your comments on previous posts - I appreciate and very much enjoy reading them. Credits: Soaring Eagle for M4 by WildDesigns (RMP) Pose - Summoning the Spirits by Varnayrah (RMP) Cheyenne for M4 by Ravenhair (DAZ) Boots are from Lena Outfit by Rhiannon (RMP) Modern Kilt by DAZ (dynamic) Hood - Dynamic Cloth DAZ Fringe textures - Native American Clothing - Mega Resource by renapd (RMP) Wood Crown, swords and jingles by mtdana (Wings 3D) Flinks Weeds (RMP) Nature Canyon by Andrey Pestryakov (DAZ) Sky by Didi_mc (RMP)