Culture
The Jicarilla are traditionally matrilocal and are organized into matrilineal clans. They have incorporated some practices of their Pueblo neighbors into their own traditions. They are renowned for their fine basket making of distinctive diamond, cross or zig-zag designs or representations of deer, horses or other animals. They are known for their beadwork and keeping Apache fiddle-making alive.
In the 1970s approximately 70% of Jicarillas continued to hold to their traditional religious beliefs.
As of 2000, about 70% of the tribe practice an organized religion, many of whom are Christians. Jicarilla is spoken by about one half of the tribal members, most by older men and women.
Ceremonial practices consist of:
- Puberty feast, called "keesta" in Jicarilla, is a rite of passage ceremony for girls or young women.
Annual events include:
- Little Beaver Celebration with a pow-wow, rodeo, draft horse pull and a five mile race mid-July.
- Stone Lake Fiesta with ceremonial dances, rodeo and footraces each September 14 and 15.
Read more about this topic: Jicarilla Apache
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“Everyone in our culture wants to win a prize. Perhaps that is the grand lesson we have taken with us from kindergarten in the age of perversions of Dewey-style education: everyone gets a ribbon, and praise becomes a meaningless narcotic to soothe egoistic distemper.”
—Gerald Early (b. 1952)
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“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)