RITUALS AND DRAMA (Sunrise Ceremony)Rituals are represented in our lives through weddings, funerals, ceremonies and the repetitive actions we use daily. The Apache Indians of North America had many traditions and rituals that were practiced religiously. Among them is the initiation service or commonly called the sunrise ceremony for women. The ceremony originates from the White Painted Woman who was the "Changing Woman" and takes place one season after a girl's first menstrual cycle. Due to the oppression of their culture by the early Americans who settled after the discovery of the New World, this ritual is barely practiced in Indian cultures and families today. However, memory survives repression, and this generation is privileged to still hold records and instructions regarding the ritual. This essay will analyze the elements of drama, movement, symbol and mood represented in this exceptional ritual. We will prove that the ritual performed by the Apache Indians was and still is an important event that uses many recognized symbols and dramatic elements. The Sunrise Ceremony uses the element of movement in many forms, participants, and order of the ritual. One of the most effective elements, movement, integrates the physical attitude of the body to express emotions traveling through space. The movement present in the ritual involves dancing of different types and running – so much so that physical training is required by the participant before the ceremony. The protagonist is not the only one involved in the physical aspect of the ceremony but also the “sponsor”. Once the girl accepted the role of becoming one with the Painted White Woman, known for returning to her younger self every year... in the middle of a sheet of paper... this ritual used effectively many symbols and dramatic elements known to transform the child and celebrate the start of a new developed life. Reference list: Darcproduction, 2008: Apache Womanhood, video accessed August 5, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mtKnaK9PA8&feature=ownedHarvard College, (1998). “The Apache Woman's Puberty Ceremony,” Sunrise Dance, retrieved August 4, 2011, http://140.247.102.177/maria/Sunrisedance.html Ingpen, Robert, 1995, People and Customs – Rites of Passage, Dragons World – Books for children, United Kingdom. National Geographic, 2007: Girls Rite of Passage, video accessed August 5, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B3Abpv0ysM&NR=1&feature=fvwpTika Yupanqui, (1999). “Apache Female Puberty Quotes Sunrise Ceremony,” Becoming a Woman, retrieved August 6, 2011, http://www.webwinds.com/yupanqui/apachequotes.htm