One of the most important holy being for Apaches is White-Painted Woman, also known as Changing Woman or White Shell Woman. Her sons, Killer of Enemies and Child Born of Water, triumphed over the evils of the world personified as monsters, making the world safe for humans. The Mountain Spirits ensure the well-being of the people by protecting them from epidemic diseases and enemies. The Mountain Spirit Dancers or Crown Dancers "become" these sacred beings in the same way that the Hopi who dance specific katsinam become those katsina spirits. The Western Apache call them the gaan while the Eastern Apache know them as gaa'he. Embodying the Mountain Spirits, they dance at night, bringing the spiritual world into physical manifestation. Their heads crowned with wooden slat headdresses, four Mountain Spirit Dancers and a clown wield their wooden swords as they dance around the fire. The bull-roarer, which is whirled on a length of string to produce a distinctive, resonating sound, drums, and singing accompany their dancing among the Western Apache. The bull-roarer is not used among the Eastern Apache.

Still practiced today, the Apache Girls' Puberty Ceremony is a major ceremony that reaffirms traditional values for everyone present and infuses the girl with White-Painted Woman's powers of renewal and rebirth. The ceremony emphasizes four crucial life objectives, beginning with the attainment of a healthy old age, which implies that a person has stayed on good terms with the supernatural forces of life. The girl becomes Changing Woman, known as the giver of "many years." The special cane that the girl holds in the Western Apache version of this ceremony was made for her to symbolize her old age: by running around the cane when it is placed to represent each of the four stages of her life, she "owns" those stages and will therefore be imbued with the power to attain them. She is thus assured of longevity. The girl needs a good, even disposition to maintain friendly relationships with others; the feathers of the oriole that decorate her cane symbolize the second objective, a harmonious disposition. The morning runs that the girl undertakes and the molding of her body by her godmother symbolize endurance and physical strength, the third objective. Unrelated to the girl by blood or marriage, the godmother, a role model of exemplary character, creates a lifelong bond of mutual support between the girl's family and her own as strong and binding as that of blood. Finally, prosperity and freedom from hunger are symbolized by the buckskin on which the girl dances; the corn, candy, and fruit that are cascaded over her head; and the blanket that she throws into each of the cardinal directions.