Navajo+Mythology

// Navajo Mythology is a series of stories and beliefs that explain how things came to be, the origin and meanings of ceremonies and the relationships among people, animals and other humans or animals, and places. navajo mytholigy is based on the recognition that all of the stories find a place within several major eras of sacred history, a history which took place "in the beginning." Stories are passed down generation to generation orally and provide the foundation of Navajo life and thought. [1 ] //

//__** The Story Of Creation **__// // The Navajo creation story Diné Bahaneʼ, centers on the area known as the dinetah the traditional homeland of the Navajo people. This story forms the basis for the traditional Navajo way of life. The basic outline of Diné Bahaneʼ begins with the Niłchiʼ Diyin (Holy Wind) being created, the mists of lights which arose through the darkness to animate and bring purpose to the myriad Diyin Dineʼé (Holy People), supernatural and sacred in the different three lower worlds. All these things were spiritually created in the time before the earth existed and the physical aspect of humans did not exist yet, but the spiritual did. // // The First World was small and centered on an island floating in a the middle of four seas. The inhabitants of the first world were Diyin Dineʼé, coyote mist beings and various insect people. The supernatural beings First Woman and First Man came into existence here and met for the first time after seeing each other's fire. The various beings started fighting with one another and departed by flying out an opening in the east. // // They journeyed to the Second World, Niʼ Hodootłʼizh, which was inhabited by various blue-gray furred mammals and various birds. These animal people were also fighting one another and soon everyone wished to depart. First Man created a wand of jet and other materials to allow the people to walk upon it up into the next world through an opening in the south. // // In the Third World, Niʼ Hałtsooí, there were two rivers that formed a cross and the Sacred Mountains but there was still no sun. More animal people lived here too. This time it was not discord among the people that drove them away but a great flood caused by Tééhoołtsódii when Coyote stole her child. // // When the people arrived in The Fourth World, Niʼ Hodisx ǫ s, it was covered in water and there were monsters (naayééʼ) living here. The Sacred Mountains were re-formed from soil taken from the original mountains in the Second World. First Man, First Woman, and the Holy People created the sun, moon, seasons, and stars. It was here that true death came into existence via Coyote tossing a stone into a lake and declaring that if it sank then the dead would go back to the previous world. // // The first human born in the Fourth World is Asdzaá nadleehe who, in turn, gives birth to the Hero Twins called Naayééʼ Neizghání and Tóbájíshchíní. The twins have many adventures in which they helped to rid the world of various monsters. Multiple batches of modern humans were created a number of times in the Fourth World and the Diyin Dineʼé gave them ceremonies which are still practiced today. //

//__** The First World **__// // Of a time long ago these things are said. The first world was small, and black as wool. In the middle of the four seas there was an island floating in the mist. On the island grew a pine tree. // // Dark ants dwelled there. Red ants dwelled there. Dragonflies dwelled there. Yellow beetles dwelled there. Hard beetles dwelled there. Stone-carrier beetles dwelled there. Black beetles dwelled there. Coyote-dung beetles dwelled there. Bats dwelled there. Whitefaced beetles dwelled there. Locusts dwelled there. White locusts dwelled there. // // These were the twelve groups of the Níłchʼi Dineʼé, the Air-Spirit People, who lived in the First World. [2 ] // // Around the floating island were four seas. Each sea was ruled by a being. In the sea to the East dwelled Tééhoołtsódii, Big Water Creature, The One Who Grabs Things in the Water. In the sea to the south lived Táłtłʼááh álééh, Blue heron. In the sea to the west dwelled Chʼał, Frog. In the ocean to the north dwelled Iiʼniʼ Jiłgaii, White Thunder. // // Above each sea appeared a cloud. There was a black cloud, a white cloud, a blue cloud, and a yellow cloud. The Black Cloud contained the Female spirit of Life. The White Cloud contained the Male spirit of Dawn. // // The Black Cloud and the White Cloud came together in the East, and the wind from the clouds blew. From the breath of wind, First Man, Áłtsé Hastiin, was formed and with him the white corn, Kóhonotʼíinii, perfect in shape, with kernels covering the whole ear. Crystal, symbol of the mind and clear seeing, was with him. // // The Blue Cloud and the Yellow Cloud came together in the West, and a wind from the clouds blew. From the breath of wind, First Woman, Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́, was formed, and with her the yellow corn, perfect in shape, with kernels covering the whole ear. White shell, and turquoise, and yucca were there with her. // // First Man made a fire with his crystal. Its light was the mind's first awakening. First Woman made a fire with her turquoise. They saw each other's light in the distance. // // When the Blue Cloud and the Yellow Cloud rose high in the sky, First Woman saw the light of First Man's fire, and she went out to find it. Three times she was unsuccessful. The fourth time she found the home of First Man. "I wondered what this thing could be," she said. "I saw you walking and wondered why you did not come," First Man said. "Why do you not come with your fire, and we will live together." First Woman agreed to this. So instead of the man going to the woman, as is the custom now, the woman went to live with the man. [3 ] // // Another person, Mąʼiitoʼí Áłchíní, Great ,Coyote was formed in the water. He told First Man and First Woman that he had been hatched from an egg, and knew all that was under the water and all that was in the skies. First Man believed him. Then a second coyote, Áłtsé Hashké, First Angry, appeared. He said to the three, "you believe that you were the first persons. You are mistaken. I was living when you were formed." First Angry brought witchcraft into the world. [4 ] // // The Air-Spirit People became jealous of one another and began to fight. The rulers of the four seas, Blue Heron, Frog, White Thunder, and Big Water Creature could stand it no more, and told the beings of the island that they must all leave this world. Some climbed and some flew until they came to an opening in the sky. They crawled through it and into the Second World. //

//__** The Second World **__// // First Man, First Woman, the Great-Coyote-Who-Was-Formed-in-the-Water, and the Coyote called First Angry, followed by all the others, climbed up from the World of Darkness to the Second or Blue World. // // They found a number of people already living there: blue birds, blue hawks, blue jays, blue herons, and all the blue-feathered beings. They lived in blue houses, scattered across a broad, blue plain. The swallow people said to the Air-Spirit People, "You are welcome here among us." And for 23 days they all lived together and were very happy with the way things were. But on the night of the twenty-fourth day things took a turn for the worst when a man tried to sleep with her the perfect life was turned around. [5 ] // // The next morning the Swallow Chief, Tʼash Jíshi, said to the newcomers, "We welcomed you here among us. We treated you as kin. Yet this is how you return our kindness. Now you must leave this world." // // The Air-Spirit people wandered upward looking for a way into the next world. Niłch'i, The wind, called to them from the South. They followed him and found a slit in the sky. First Man created a wand of jet and the Air-Spirit people flew or walked upon it up into the next world. One by one they passed through to the other side. The powerful swallow people lived there also. //

// The navajo trails // //__** The Third World **__// // The bluebird had joined the Air-Spirit People and was the first to reach the Third or Yellow World. After him came the First Four and all the others. // // The great Female River crossed this land from north to south. The great Male River crossed the land from east to west. The rivers flowed through one another in the middle, and the name of this place is Tó Ałnáosdlį́į́, Crossing of the Waters. // // In the Yellow World were six mountains. In the East was Sisnaajiní, Dawn, or White Shell Mountain. In the South was Tsoodził, Blue Bead, or Turquoise Mountain. To the West was Dookʼoʼoosłííd, Abalone Shell Mountain. In the North was Dibé Nitsaa, Big Mountain Sheep. Near the Center of the Yellow World was Dził Náʼoodiłii, Soft Goods or Banded Rock //
 * 1) //[|**^**] Gill, Sam D. (1979). Songs of Life: An Introduction to Navajo Religious Culture. [|Brill Publishers] . [|ISBN] [|9004060243] . //
 * 2) //[|**^**] Zolbrod, Paul G. (1984), Diné Bahane', p. 36.//
 * 3) //[|**^**] Hastiin Tlo'tsi Hee, p. 3.//
 * 4) //[|**^**] Hastiin Tlo'tsi Hee, p. 3.//
 * 5) //[|**^**] Zolbrod, 1984, p.41.//
 * 6) //[|**^**] Zolbrod (1984) places most of these events in the Fourth World//
 * 7) //[|**^**] In Zolbrod's account, this ceremony is the birth of First Man and First Woman in the Fourth World. In most other accounts, however//