Tag Archives: Sacred Rain Arrow

The Sacred Rain Arrow statue and the story behind the sculpture.

I snapped this photo yesterday at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian @ DC. The bronze statue “Sacred Rain Arrow” was created by sculptor Allan Houser, who was inspired by a story told to him as a child by a Chiricahua Apache elder. During an unforgiving drought, a young Apache warrior was chosen by his people to make the journey to a medicine man. The man performed his rituals and blessed the young warrior’s bow and arrows. The young Apache knelt down, raised his bow toward the sky, and shot the sacred arrow containing his people’s prayer for rain high into the Spirit World.

I ‘greyed’ out the background to emphasize the bronze statue. Feel free to use the photo for whatever purpose but kindly give credit 🙂

Houser’s statue was even chosen as the official design by the State of Oklahoma for its license plates in 2008. 3 million+ Oklahomans display the art on their plates.