Fayreen and Farren Holden, along with their mother Joycelyn Holden, godparents Nathaniel and Denise Cosay and many relatives and friends spent months preparing for their "official" ascent into womanhood. The ceremony is one of the most important events in an Apache female's life.

Traditionally, many weeks are spent designing the elaborately adorned buckskin dresses the girls wear. The girls themselves are expected to undergo physical training that will sustain them through the demanding four-day ceremony that includes many hours of dancing into the night, hours of sitting with backs straight and legs extended in front while praying and other physically draining activities.

The ceremony, called na'ii'ees in Apache, is one of many Native American ceremonial rituals banned by the United States government in the early 1900s. Not until 1978, when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed, was the Sunrise Ceremony openly re-established on most reservations.

It is intended to imbue the girls with the spirit and characteristics of White Painted Woman, the Apache culture's first woman - also called Esdzanadehe or Changing Woman. The girls' skin is painted and covered with a sacred mixture of pollen and clay, which they must not wash off during the entire ceremony.

Denise Cosay remained with them during the ceremony, guiding them through the rituals overseen by the tribal medicine man, Harrison Burnett. The godmother also was expected to provide some information about sexuality. At one point in the ceremony, she gives a cry of triumph and delight - matching that given by White Painted Woman when her two sons slay the Owl Man Giant who had terrorized the Apaches.

Songs and prayers were recited, and each girl was instructed to pray toward the east at dawn and in the four cardinal directions - symbolizing the four stages of life.

They gave and received gifts, and were instructed about their own self-esteem, dignity, confidence and capacity to heal.

Sunrise Ceremonies are conducted at both Whiteriver and San Carlos Apache reservations between May and October each year, varying in length and complexity from tribe to tribe and according to individual families' circumstances. Occasionally, two or even three girls undergo the ceremony simultaneously, but a ceremony for twins, such as this one, is an uncommon occurrence.

TRADITION OF WHITE PAINTED WOMAN

The first woman, called White Painted Woman, Esdzanadehe or Changing Woman, survives the Great Flood by floating in an abalone shell. As the waters recede, she wanders the land.

On a mountain peak, she is impregnated by the Sun and gives birth to a son, Killer of Enemies.

Soon, she is impregnated by the Rain, and gives birth to a second son, Son of Water.

The people live in a world that is not safe, and White Painted Woman sends her sons to kill the Owl Man Giant who has been terrorizing the tribe. They do so, and on their victorious return White Painted Woman gives a cry of triumph and delight.

Guided by the spirits, she devises the ceremony that is to be administered to Apache girls as the rite to womanhood.

When she becomes old, White Painted Woman walks east toward the sun until she meets and merges with her younger self. She becomes young again, reborn with every generation to provide guidance to Apache women.