Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] comes closest to
being the personification of the earth [Nahasdzáán]
and of the natural order of the universe [Yádi
hi Bii'
Bi
Haz'ánígíí] as to any other brief way of
describing her. She represents the cyclical path of the seasons
[nináhágháhígíí],
birth (spring [daan d
go]), maturing (summer [sh
sh
go]), growing old (fall ['ak'eed]) and dying
(winter [haigo]), only to be reborn
again in the spring [daan dgo].
The birth of Changing Woman [Asdz
First Man [Á
At Changing Woman's [Asdz
After this ceremony Changing Woman [Asdz
At this point Changing Woman [Asdz
Changing Woman [Asdz
tsé
hastiin] and First Woman [Átsé asdzáán].
First Man [Átsé hastiin]
repeatedly held up his medicine
bundle [jish] toward Gobernador Knob [Ch'óol''] at dawn [hayíík].
Somehow from this action Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] was born and found lying on top of
Gobernador Knob [Ch'óol'']. She was found by
Talking God [Haashch'éét'í]
who was sent to investigate. First Man
[Átsé hastiin] then presented her to the diyinii, saying
that you could see that this is the child of the young man and young
woman of exceeding beauty who themselves had arisen from the same
medicine bundle to become the inner form of the earth.{*}
tsé
hastiin] raises and teaches Changing
Woman [Asdz nádleehé]. She grew from infancy to
puberty in four [d] days, thus acquiring the
name Changing Woman [Asdz nádleehé]. This occasioned the first puberty ceremony.
The Holy People [diyin diné] were called for and
Talking God [Haashch'éét'í] officiated at the ceremony.
Changing Woman [Asdz nádleehé] was dressed in
jewels (white shell [yoogaii],
turquoise [doot'izhii],
abalone [diichi] and jet [bááshzhinii]), blessed with pollen
[tádídíín]
from the dawn [hayíík] and
from twilight [nahootsoii], and with "pollen" from many jewels and soft fabrics,
symbolizing her control over these articles. After this blessing, her
hair was bathed with dews [dahtoo'] and she was instructed to run toward the dawn
[hayíík] as far as she could see and then to
return. As she ran, her dress of jewels jingled. She repeated this for
four [d] nights [t'éé]. On these days [j], when not involved in ceremonies, she occupied
herself with planning for the future of the earth
[nahasdzáán]. By the end of the
ceremony she had made millstones [tsédaashjéé and tsédaashch'íní], a whisk broom [bee nahalzhoohí], pots ['ásaa']and stirring
sticks [ídístsiin]. The songs that were sung for Changing Woman
[Asdz
nádleehé] as she ran are sung
today for young women at their puberty ceremonies [kinaaldá].
nádleehé] next
menstration another puberty ceremony was held, similar to the first. But
at this ceremony other procedures for the future were defined. These
decree that no menstrating woman shall be present at any ceremonial.
The order of songs at future
Blessingway [hózhó
jí] ceremonies was
thus determined.
nádleehé]
would go outside and walk on the trail which had been prepared for her.
One day at noon a strange man walked up to her and spoke to her. He said
"Prepare yourself for something that is going to happen, after a while I
will visit you." This stranger was so dazzling that Changing Woman
[Asdz n nádleehé] had to look away. When
she turned back, he was gone. She returned home and reported this
encounter to First Woman [Átsé asdz]
and First Man [Átsé hastiin]. It seems that First Man
[Átsé hastiin] was expecting
this occurence, which happened twice again. On the third time Changing Woman
[Asdz nádleehé] was told to fix her bed
outside, with her head to the east. When she fell asleep a young man
came and lay beside her. This happened again and she asked who he was.
He replied, "Don't you know me? Didn't you ever see me? Don't you know
that you see me all the time? It is I that takes care of all things,
whatever there is on earth. I am the Sun's inner form. In my very
presence you came into being, in my presence you were put into shape,
even I was among them!" He then indicated that First Man
[Átsé hastiin]
had directed him to do this. The next day
she decided to bathe because the young man might visit her again. While
bathing the young man appeared again and with the collaboration of the
dripping water impregnated Changing Woman [Asdz nádleehé].
In nine [náhást'éí] days [j],
twins were born to Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé]. These twins were to become Monster Slayer and
Born for Water. These two [nakii] also grew in four [d] day [j]
periods and in twelve [nakits'áadah] days [j] they were grown young men.
nádleehé] asked for and receives the medicine bundle [jish]
that
First Man [Átsé hastiin] had brought up from the previous
worlds. She moves to a hooghan that was
built for her at the base of Huerfano Mountain [Dzina'oodiii].
Here she conducted the first wedding ceremony, the mating of corn.
After this ceremony Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] leaves for the house that her sons have built
for her, at the direction of their father, the Sun [Jóhonaa'éí],
in the west ['e'e'aah], at or
on the Pacific Ocean. Here Changing Woman [Asdz
nádleehé] grew lonely and created the Navajo People from
skin rubbed off various parts of her body. The four [d] pairs of people
created at this time are the ancestors of all Navajo today.
nádleehé] also
caused the abduction of the two children of Rock Crystal Talking God.
They were taken to her house in the west ['e'e'aah]
by way of a rainbow [nááts'íílid] and a
sunbeam [shábit'óól]. Here they were taught the Blessingway [Hózhójí] ceremony. They returned home to teach the ceremony to all of their
people (the original Navajos saw the ceremony being taught to these
children). The diyinii all
gathered to learn the ceremony and to construct the original Mountain
Soil bundle, containing soil from each of the sacred mountains
[dzi dadiyinígíí],
with which the ceremony is still conducted. The Holy People
then said that, after their departure from this ceremony, they would
never be seen in person again but that their presence would be manifest
in the sound of the wind [níyol], the feathers [ats'os] of an eagle ['atsá], in various birds [naat'a'gii],
the growth of the corn [naad] and other aspects of the world surrounding the
earth surface people. The two children who had been taught the
Blessingway ceremony [Hózhójí] then
departed to live with the Holy People.
{*} The parentage of Changing Woman [Asdz nádleehé]
is described in several different
ways by different informants; however these can be thought of as just
different ways of saying the same thing. Some say that her father and
mother are the Sky and the Earth. Others say her parents are sa'a
naghái ashkii (boy) and bik'e hózh
at'ééd (girl) as in this version. However the Sky is
sometimes referred to as sa'a naghái and the Earth as bik'e
hózh.
In either case, Changing Woman is Earth's child,
the child of the Sky and the child of the mountain.
As she was planned for by First Man [Átsé hastiin] and
First Woman [Átsé
asdz] and called forth
by First Man [Átsé hastiin], she is also their child.
This discussion is based upon the much longer and more detailed
discussion of Changing Woman and Blessingway found in Blessingway
by Leland C. Wyman, ©
1970 Leland C. Wyman, University of Arizona Press, Navajo Blessingway Singer, The
Autobiography of Frank Mitchell edited by Charlotte J. Frisbie
and David P. McAllester, ©
1978, University of Arizona Press, and The Main
Stalk, A Synthesis of Navajo Philosophy by John R. Farella
© 1984 John R. Farella, University of Arizona
Press. There is no way that I could cover all of the essential concepts
included in these books. Please consult these books for more detailed
accounts and interpretations.
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