The Apache Indians are a southern branch of the Athabaskan language group of North America. Most historians believe that the Apache arrived in the American Southwest after 1000 A.D. but well before Spanish colonization of the area. The Apache tribe consisted of many different politically noncohesive bands that included the Lipan Apache of Texas, the Mescalero Apache of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the Jicarilla of northeastern New Mexico, the Navajo of northwestern New Mexico, the Chiricahua Apache of southwestern New Mexico, the Western Apache of Arizona, and the Plains Apache of Oklahoma. Apache dress was similar in all of these bands and was usually made from the tribe's lifeblood, the buffalo.
History
Apache dress was greatly affected by contact with European colonizers and white settlers. Before contact and trade with these groups began, Apache dress was entirely made from the hides of animals, most notably the buffalo. Much of traditional Apache culture centered on hunting buffalo. The Apache migrated with the buffalo herds, almost entirely dependent upon the animal for their food, shelter and clothing.
With European contact came a change in traditional Apache dress. The Apache began to use cloth obtained through trade instead of animal hides to make many of its clothes, but the style of the Apache dress changed little.
Time Frame
Up until heavy exposure to foreign settlers and traders at some point in the late 1700s, Apache dress was still made almost entirely from animal hides. By the early 1800s the Apache had incorporated elements of European clothing into its traditional dress, most notably the use of woven cloth. The Apache obtained the cloth through trade and began to make some traditional garments out of it since the process of skinning a buffalo and tanning its hides could be very laborious.
Features
The Spanish had extensive contact with the Apache throughout the Southwest and recorded that these Indians wore very little clothing by European standards. Apache dress for the men usually consisted of at least a breech cloth and sometimes leather war shirts and leggings. Traditional Apache dress for women was a dress made from tanned buffalo hides or hides of other large game. Apache men and women wore moccasins on their feet that the women sewed together from pieces of buffalo hide. Bead work and fringe often adorned shirts and dresses for decoration. Leather headbands were also worn by both sexes.
After European contact, Apache dress remained similar but it became more frequent for cloth to be used to make some of these clothing items instead of buffalo hides.
Benefits
Apache dress was simple and functional. Men and women wore garments that would keep them cool in the heat of the American Southwest and that was sturdy enough to withstand the harsh elements of their terrain. It was very practical for the Apaches to use buffalo hides for clothing since they were constantly hunting the animal for food. The Apaches did not waste any of the buffalo, eating its meat and then tanning its hides to make their clothes and shelter.
Significance
Traditional Apache dress is significant in that in shows how dependent the Apaches were on the buffalo. Not only was it used for food, but for clothing and housing, as well. As the buffalo herds began to dwindle in the late 1800s, the Apaches were forced to find other sources of food and clothing. They were then compelled to use European-inspired clothing more extensively, altering the Apache dress they had worn for centuries.
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