Why this article does not describe the objects
Searching for Apache “sacred artifacts” tends to turn up lists, photographs and confident explanations of what things are called and what they do. This article does not provide those. In many Apache communities, ceremonial objects are understood to be more than objects. Their making, care and use belong to particular people and settings, and the knowledge around them is not meant for public circulation. Describing them in detail, or inventing detail where none is available, would be disrespectful and would likely be inaccurate.
What can responsibly be explained is the surrounding picture: why such items are not for sale or display, how so many ended up in museum and private collections, and how the law now allows some to return home.
Not for sale, not for display
For the Apache nations, as for many Native nations, a sacred object is not comparable to an art piece or a souvenir. Several principles come up repeatedly in public discussions by Native people and museum professionals.
- The objects are tied to living practice. They are not relics of a finished past. Ceremonial life continues, and objects may be needed for it.
- Access is restricted. Many sacred items are meant to be seen or handled only by certain people, so showing them to a general audience is a harm in itself.
- Ownership is collective or entrusted. An object may be held by a family or community in trust, so an individual may not have the right to sell it, and a sale does not change what the object is.
- Display can be offensive. Photographs, exhibits and online images of sacred items can cause distress even when intended as appreciation.
For these reasons, many museums now follow the guidance of the nations concerned when deciding whether to show certain objects at all. A shopper should be wary of any dealer selling “authentic Apache ceremonial items”. Genuine sacred objects are rarely offered openly, and imitations are common. Items sold as “Apache” souvenirs are frequently not Apache-made at all.
It is also worth separating sacred items from the wide range of public Apache arts. Baskets, beadwork, jewelry and other crafts made for sale are a living tradition. The difference is that those pieces are made to be shared, and the sacred objects are not.
How objects ended up in collections
Many Native ceremonial objects entered museums and private hands in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was an era of intense collecting by museums, scholars and tourists, and it coincided with poverty, forced removals, imprisonment and government attempts to end ceremonies. Items left communities through purchase, through confiscation or loss, through gifts under pressure, and through outright theft. Sorting out which happened in a particular case is often difficult, and the answers differ from item to item.
The Apache peoples had their own particular history in this respect. The Chiricahua were held as prisoners of war for years, and Apache communities across the Southwest lived under reservation controls where traveling, gathering and ceremony were restricted. Under such circumstances, the ability of families to protect their belongings was limited. The result is that Apache material appears in many collections today, and the modern conversation about Apache museum collections is often about how to account for that history.
Repatriation under federal law
In 1990, the United States passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, usually called NAGPRA. In general terms, the law requires federal agencies and museums that receive federal funds to inventory certain holdings, consult with Native nations, and return certain categories of items to the appropriate lineal descendants or nations. These categories include human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony.
Several points matter for understanding how it works.
- It applies to specific categories. Not every object in a museum is covered, and the law uses defined terms.
- It is a process, not an event. Consultation, documentation and claims can take years.
- Nations lead. The decision about what is sacred and what to claim is for the nations, not for the museum.
- It covers certain institutions. Private collectors are not directly covered, although some choose to return items voluntarily.
NAGPRA repatriation, including repatriation involving Apache nations, has returned remains and objects in a number of cases. The details of any particular return are for the nations concerned to share, and many are not made public. Readers who want to know what a specific nation has claimed should look to that nation’s own office or cultural department.
Beyond the law
Repatriation is also a matter of relationships. Some museums have changed policies on storage, access and display after consulting with Native communities, and some have removed sacred items from exhibits entirely. Others have more work to do. For scholars, the issue raises larger questions about the repatriation of objects and how research should be done. Native cultural centers and tribal museums now play a larger role in caring for collections themselves.
What visitors and collectors can do
- Do not buy or sell items described as Apache ceremonial or sacred objects.
- If you hold an item you think may be sacred, contact the relevant nation’s cultural office or a museum with a repatriation program, and seek guidance before doing anything with it.
- Do not photograph, handle or ask to see sacred items at events or in communities.
- Treat claims of “Apache secrets” in books and online with skepticism.
Because rules and contacts change, check the nations’ own official websites for current information. The central point is simple: these objects are tied to people who are alive and who have the right to decide what happens to them.