Navajo Creation Myth: The Story of the Emergence - the Diné Bahane' Legend of the Navajo Native American Peoples

By Hasteen M. Klah

The Navajo creation myth, called the Diné Bahaneʼ, is one of the greatest stories of the Native American peoples, filled with evocative images of nature and wondrous storytelling.

Hasteen M. Klah was a Navajo medicine man who grew up among the culture, whereby ceremonial events and sandpainting were a direct expression of the people’s beliefs. Over the course of his life he sought to write down the various myths of his people, plus the ritual events and songs. The greatest challenge Klah faced was relating the entirety of the creation myth - being true and accurate to the Navajo peoples, but understandable to readers unaccustomed to such an immense religion.

The reader will find the complexity and intricacy of their spiritual lore rewarding; this book contains not only the full narration of the Diné Bahaneʼ, but also the verses sung by the Navajo during the telling of the story. We hear further parts of the creation myth; stories whereby gigantic beasts lay claim to parts of the world, influencing the ancient Navajo tribe’s affinity with nature and its creatures. Towards the conclusion, Klah includes further songs that celebrate the Earth, or commemorate certain occasions and ceremonies. Lastly, there is a lengthy glossary explaining the many names and terms used in the mythos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Porirua Publishing
• Release date: Feb 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9781991141439

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© Porirua Publishing 2024, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

DEDICATION 9

Preface 10

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 14

NAVAJO MYTHS 14

CEREMONIES 17

SANDPAINTINGS 21

SANDPAINTING RITUAL 24

THE STORY OF THE EMERGENCE— HAHDENIGAI-HUNAI 27

FIRST WORLD 27

SECOND WORLD 29

THIRD WORLD 31

FOURTH WORLD 36

First song of stealing the Fire 38

CEREMONY OF SWEAT-HOUSE WHERE CREATION OF THIS WORLD BEGAN 39

First song of the Sweat-house 39

Second song of the Sweat-house 39

Third song of the Sweat-house— Fourth song of the Sweat-house 39

Fifth song of the Sweat-house 39

Sixth song of the Sweat-house 39

Seventh song of the Sweat-house 40

Creation Song 40

NAHTEEN ODOLITH 41

BEGINNING OF THE WORLD SONG 42

Creation of Mountains 42

Creation of Spirits of Mountains and Stars 43

Creation of Spirit of the Earth 43

Creation of Spirit of the Sky 43

Prayer of Earth and Sky Spirits 44

Form of Mountain Spirits 44

Formation of Sun and Moon and Winds 45

Placing of Spirits of Sun, Moon, Stars and Wind 45

Placing of Cyclones and Winds.—Wind Prayer 46

Creation Starts to Move 46

Naming of Spirits 46

FIRST DEATH AND FIRST MOVEMENT OF CREATION 47

Future Life 47

Second Death 47

Creation of Son of Begochiddy 47

Description of Period of the Monsters 48

THE SAVING OF CREATED BEINGS 50

CREATION OF ESTSAN-AH-TLEHAY 51

MAIDEN CEREMONY FOR ESTSAN-AH-TLEHAY 53

Creation Song—Song of Painting the Maiden 53

MATING OF THE SUN AND ESTSAN-AH-TLEHAY 54

BIRTH OF NAYENEZGANI AND TOHBACHISCHIN 55

BEGINNING OF THEIR JOURNEY TO THE SUN 56

TEST OF THE TWINS BY THE SUN 58

Song of Beautifying: Dayahnezhonyadesilaysh 59

KILLING OF THE GIANT 61

First Anadji dance 62

KILLING OF DAH-IL-KADEH 63

First song of stealing the Fire 63

KILLING OF THE GREAT BIRD 65

Making of the Eagle and the Owl 65

DESTRUCTION OF THE KICKING ROCK 67

DESTRUCTION OF ROLLING ROCK 68

DESTRUCTION OF STARING-EYES-THAT-KILL 69

DESTRUCTION OF GREAT CENTIPEDES 70

DESTRUCTION OF CRUSHING ROCKS 71

DESTRUCTION OF CUTTING REEDS AND OTHER MONSTERS 72

Destruction of the Canyon that Spreads Apart 72

Destruction of the Cactus that Catches people 72

Killing of Monster Rock Swallows 72

Killing of Shush-nah-kahi, the Bears-that-Trail 73

PLANS FOR FLOOD AND RECREATION 75

Second Flood 75

CREATION OF MAN AND ANIMALS 77

FIRST SONG OF THE HOGAHN 79

RETURN OF CREATED BEINGS FROM CAVE 80

Ladder Song, Raz-ah Βeyin 80

SEPARATION OF PEOPLE INTO CLANS 81

JOURNEY OF ESTSAN-AH-TLEHAY TO THE WEST 82

Ceremonial before Traveling 82

MAKING OF THE HOUSE OF ESTSAN-AH-TLEHAY ON THE ISLAND 85

Song of Estsan-ah-tlehay’s House 85

Salt Woman Song 85

CREATION OF MORE PEOPLE BY ESTSAN-AH-TLEHAY 86

JOURNEY OF THE CLANS FROM THE ISLAND BACK TO NAVAJO COUNTRY 88

Meeting with Man of Away- kiyatyeh Clan 89

Arrival at San Francisco Peaks 89

Tobacco Song. 90

Painting of the Travellers 91

Children’s Game 91

JOURNEY OF THE TWO CHILDREN TO ESTSAN-AH-TLEHAY 92

Estsan-eh-beyin, Changing-Woman’s Song 92

Return of the Children to their Home 93

NAVAJO CEREMONIAL SONGS BASED ON THE CREATION MYTH 94

NAVAJO CEREMONIAL SONGS 95

1. SONG OF THE ETHKAY-NAH-ASHI 95

2. SONG OF THE FLOOD 96

3. SECOND SONG OF THE FLOOD 96

4. SONG OF THE SUN AND MOON 98

5. SONG OF THE LADDER 98

6. THERE ARE NO PEOPLE SONG 99

7. THE SONG OF COYOTE WHO STOLE THE FIRE 100

8. SWEATHOUSE SONG 100

9. SECOND SWEATHOUSE SONG 102

10. THIRD SWEATHOUSE SONG 102

11. FOURTH SWEATHOUSE SONG 103

13. SIXTH SWEATHOUSE SONG 104

14. HOUSE SONG (FROM THE HALL CHANT) 104

15. SONG OF CREATING PEOPLE (FROM THE HAIL CHANT) 105

16. MOUNTAIN SONG 106

17. SONG OF HOW THE SUN WAS MADE 107

18. SONG OF SUN AND MOON 109

19. WHERE THE STARS WERE MADE 110

20. WHEN THEY SAW EACH OTHER 111

21. CRADLE SONG 112

22. SONG OF THE FIRST PUBERTY CEREMONY 113

23. SECOND SONG OF THE PUBERTY CEREMONY 114

24. THE OLD AGE SPIRITS 115

25. SONG OF OLD AGE (FROM THE BLESSING CHANT) 116

26. SONG OF THE RAINBOW 117

27. SONG OF THE WHITE SHELL PRAYER-STICKS 118

28. SONG OF THE CHIEF’S HOGAHN 119

29. SONG OF THE TWO CHILDREN (FROM THE HAIL CHANT) 119

30. SONG OF THE EARTH (FROM THE BLESSING CHANT) 121

HOZHONJI—BLESSING CHANT 123

I 123

II 127

III 128

NOTES ON THE SANDPAINTINGS 129

SANDPAINTINGS FROM THE HOZHONJI—BLESSING CHANT 130

SET I—FIRST SANDPAINTING 130

SET I—SECOND SANDPAINTING 131

SET I—THIRD SANDPAINTING 133

SET I—FOURTH SANDPAINTING 134

SET II—FIRST SANDPAINTING 136

SET II—SECOND SANDPAINTING 138

SET II—THIRD SANDPAINTING 140

SET II—FOURTH SANDPAINTING 141

SET II—FIFTH SANDPAINTING 143

SET II—SIXTH SANDPAINTING 144

SET II—SEVENTH SANDPAINTING 146

SET III—FIRST SANDPAINTING 147

SET III—SECOND SANDPAINTING 149

SET III—THIRD SANDPAINTING 150

SET III—FOURTH SANDPAINTING 152

SET III—ALTERNATE TO THIRD SANDPAINTING 154

SET III—ALTERNATE TO FOURTH SANDPAINTING 155

NOTES ON APPROXIMATE LOCATIONS WHERE NAVAJO CEREMONIES ARE NOW GIVEN 157

GLOSSARY OF NAVAJO CREATION MYTH 159

A 159

B 162

C 163

D 164

E 166

G 168

H 168

I 171

J 171

K 172

L 173

M 174

N 174

O 179

R 179

S 179

T 182

W 190

Y 191

Z 192

ABSTRACT 193

NAVAJO RELIGION SERIES

VOLUME 1

NAVAJO CREATION MYTH

THE STORY OF THE EMERGENCE

BY

HASTEEN KLAH

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DEDICATION

Dedicated to

HASTEEN KLAH

Preface

THOUGH I HAD PLANNED NOT TO APPEAR EXCEPT AS A RECORDING agent in this publication of my work of seventeen years, I have been told that it is necessary to give some account of the origin and reason for my interest in the work. I used to go camping in the Navajo region and from guides and other campers heard of Navajo Yehbechai and so-called Fire Dance ceremonies, so with two friends went on horseback from Fort Defiance, Arizona, to Cuba, New Mexico, particularly for the purpose of seeing some ceremonies.

In those days it was almost a matter of luck if one ever could find out about the ceremonies and I was surprised to find that most of the traders, though some had lived long among the Indians, liked them and spoke Navajo, knew nothing and cared less about their religion; and among the school teachers this was the usual attitude. We happened on a Yehbechai near Chin Lee, then crossed the Chuskai mountains and came down to Newcomb, a small trading-post facing the desert with its only link to civilization a poor dirt road practically impassable when it rained. Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Newcomb gave us two little rooms, and we found they were alive to the value of Indian life around them in its religious aspect. They were very much devoted to Klah, a Medicine Man, grandson of Narbona, the great chief whom our soldiers killed under a flag of truce in 1847. Klah, who lived close by, had shown his kindness to the Newcombs on many occasions, coming over to protect Mrs. Newcomb from molestation when Mr. Newcomb was away, and being willing that they should see his ceremonies, as he trusted them not to interfere. At that time the Indians were much afraid of the attitude of the white people which was unsympathetic to their worship and religion.

I went with the Newcombs to a Yehbechai and met Klah, who was officiating. At that time he had begun to make his sandpainting blankets, weaving them himself, making usually one or two a year to support himself, and also to record the sandpaintings. As he said to Mr. Newcomb he knew that the Navajo boys should go to school and learn to read and to speak English, but that when they had been to school they could not remember the religious myths, sandpaintings and ritual, and so he was beginning to record them. He was teaching a nephew his Yehbechai, but had no other student to whom he could pass on his knowledge. He knew the myth of the Mountain Chant and its ritual, but did not give the ceremony. He knew the Hail Chant completely and this died with him. He also gave the Blessing Chant and the Wind Chant and knew the complete Creation Myth. I saw him later at the Newcombs and began to ask him questions about the Fire Dance which I had seen, thanks to his giving me the date of it. He asked me why I questioned him, and I said truly that I was interested in religion. I had to communicate through an interpreter always, but we were friends almost at once.

He told me some nice little stories but I felt they were superficial. Then he said he wanted me to make phonograph records of his songs, for he was a great singer as a Medicine Man must be, since almost all the ceremonies consist of songs or chants; (there are eight hundred for the Creation Myth, and four hundred and forty for the Hail Chant).

Later he came to my house at Alcalde where I had secured a recording machine and someone to run it, but there was a delay, and suddenly one day he said, I will tell you a story if you are not afraid to take it, for the only man who has recorded one of our myths (Matthews, twenty-five or more years ago) was paralyzed after taking it. I said I was not afraid, and got an interpreter, and we began. Mr. Newcomb wrote and I asked questions and checked any uncertainties through the interpreter. This has been my usual technique, except that often I have done the writing. This first story was the myth of Tsilthkehje, the Mountain Chant.

You cannot hurry the story nor ask too many questions as it has a very definite pattern, and when after eight days’ work it was finished, Klah said, tell her that every word of this is true. He told this in May when there may be thunder, and the Navajos are not supposed to tell the myths except after the first frost. Their feeling seems to be that they are releasing so much power that it is not safe when thunder is possible. Klah, being so powerful and naturally fearless, took the risk, and the reason he was afraid for me and for Arthur Newcomb was that we were unprotected; so after talking for four days he said he must go back to his home to get something to protect us, and Arthur took him back—three hundred and forty miles. When the story was finished he asked us to inhale some incense and eat some medicine-substance to protect us, and this we did. He gave me some of these two medicines which I was to take every six months.

Next Fall, when I went by invitation to a Yehbechai given by him, he watched to see if I was well, and since no harm had come to the tribe, he felt that all was well and was willing to show me more, and to tell me his other myths.

He eventually told them all to me; the Creation Myth out in Santa Barbara, for I knew that he longed to see the western ocean where Estsan-ah-tlehay, The Changing Woman, lives, and later he visited me in Maine so as to see the eastern sea. I grew to respect and love him for his real goodness, generosity—and holiness, for there is no other word for it. He never had married, having spent twenty-five years studying not only the ceremonies he gave, but all the medicine lore of the tribe. He helped at least eight of his nieces and nephews with money and goods. When the Newcombs first settled at Nava (as the Newcomb trading-post used to be called), halfway between Gallup and Shiprock, Klah was counted one of the rich men there with many sheep. He had his final initiation ceremony shortly after, when he reached as high rank as possible in his religion, and at that ceremony he gave away most of his goods. When I knew him he never kept anything for himself. It was hard to see him almost in rags at his ceremonies, but what was given him he seldom kept, passing it on to someone who needed it.

When a district nurse came to the day school his attitude was perfectly friendly and cooperative, and at one time when his favorite niece was bitten by a rattler while he was away, and she was treated by the nurse, he was delighted, but held a ceremony later over the niece to clear her mind of the snake fear. At another ceremony the nurse brought cough medicine and dosed Klah and the patient during the ceremony, also to his delight. He was teaching his Yehbechai ceremony to his nephew Beyal, but to Klah’s great grief Beyal died about five years ago and Klah was too old to teach another nephew, for he wanted as pupil a boy of not more than six years who had never been to school, as he found that after schooling they had not the capacity to memorize the long songs, prayers and myths. Later he gave the Hail ceremony so that I could see and record it, and sang the songs for recording—there are four hundred and forty of them.

After I had recorded his great ceremonies and myths I went on to other Medicine Men and always found that when I told them of Klah and the idea of the Museum to keep the records safe for their people and mine, and of the ceremonies I had already seen, they were willing to tell their myths and show me what I needed to know. When they saw Mrs. Newcomb’s sandpainting copies and found she also was really seeking for the absolutely correct version, they were anxious that their own sandpainting should be in her collection. Of course we both paid for the time occupied in working with us, as was only fair, and in the case of myths this was often a matter of many days’ hard work. All the community of Nava finally became interested in helping us and took pride in the completeness of our knowledge and would show off Mrs. Newcomb’s knowledge of sandpaintings to visiting Medicine Men. I admired their attitude very much; no jealousy—only a joy in finding understanding and sympathy from white people in the thing they cared for the most.

I have traveled all over the Reservation trying to get in touch with the older Medicine Men who knew the big fundamental ceremonies, for I felt, and time proves me right, that I must work as fast as possible if I was to record the old pure material. Now with school boys carrying on, the ceremonies are tending to grow shorter and simpler, and that has been happening for years—the sandpaintings grow smaller and the myth, which is the last thing to be learned by a student, is forgotten. Mrs. Newcomb and I were very lucky to have come in touch first with one of the great men of the tribe, who was not only that, but a real student of his religion. Our civilization and miracles he took simply without much wonder, as his mind was occupied with his religion and helping his people. It was wonderful to travel with him, as he knew the ceremonial names and legends of all the mountains, rivers and places, and the uses and associations of plants and stones. Everything was the outward form of the spirit world that was very real to him. He became continually more deeply interested in the idea of the recording of his religion, and showed and told me more each year. He also helped Mrs. Newcomb to make a beginning of her magnificent collection of sandpaintings by telling her when and where ceremonies were being given, and explaining her purpose to the other Medicine Men. Often he would arrange that a ceremony should be given for one of his family or clan, and Mrs.