Diné Bahaneʼ

by Anonymous

Also known as: Diné Bahaneʼ: The Navajo Creation Story, Navajo Creation Story, Dine Bahane

Written:1984 CE

Length:(~12 hours)

A literary translation and arrangement of Navajo origin traditions recounting successive world emergences, the ordering of cosmos and society, Changing Woman’s creation of the Navajo People, and the Hero Twins’ monster-slaying that restores hózhǫ́ (balance).

Description

Diné Bahaneʼ presents the Navajo emergence cycle in which Holy People and primordial beings move upward through previous worlds into the present Fifth World. The narratives establish sacred geography, ritual conduct, and social order, including the separation of sexes, the flood that forces ascent, and the fixing of sun, moon, and constellations. Changing Woman arises as a life-giving figure who brings forth the People and embodies hózhǫ́. Her sons—Monster Slayer and Born-for-Water—journey to their father, the Sun, receive weapons and blessings, and rid the world of destructive beings such as Yeitso and Rock Monster Eagles. Episodes also explain corn, hogan building, ceremonies, and the moral logic of reciprocity and restraint. Zolbrod’s rendering synthesizes consistent elements from diverse tellings while preserving ceremonial cadence and indigenous terminology.

Historiography

The work rests on a long oral tradition with regional and ceremonial variants. Nineteenth–twentieth century transcribers (e.g., Matthews; Haile; Reichard; Wyman) produced English accounts with differing structures and ritual emphases. Zolbrod’s 1984 volume offers a continuous literary narrative shaped from multiple narrations, foregrounding themes of hózhǫ́ and the Emergence–Twins cycle. Scholarly debates focus on sequencing of emergences, provenance of certain episodes, and the interplay between ceremonial texts and public myth versions.

Date Notes

English translation and compilation based on multiple 20th-century Navajo oral narrations; earlier versions recorded by Washington Matthews, Father Berard Haile, and others informed the tradition.

Major Characters

First Man
First Woman
Changing Woman
Monster Slayer
Born-for-Water
Spider Woman

Myths

Emergence through the Worlds
Creation of the Holy People
Coyote Brings Disorder
Birth of the Monster-Slayer Twins
Slaying of the Monsters

Facts

The title means “Story of the People” and refers to the Navajo origin and emergence cycle.
Zolbrod’s 1984 volume is a synthesized English narrative drawn from multiple tellers and earlier records.
Core episodes include multi-world emergence, a flood induced by Coyote’s theft, and ascent via a reed.
Changing Woman embodies hózhǫ́ (beauty, balance) and is central to the People’s creation and renewal.
The Hero Twins receive weapons from the Sun and purge the land of monsters threatening cosmic order.
Sacred geography centers on the Four Sacred Mountains that bound Dinétah.
Ceremonial institutions like Blessingway and Night Chant are framed with mythic origins in the cycle.
Variant sequences and local emphases exist; no single ordering exhausts the tradition.
Earlier pivotal collectors include Washington Matthews, Father Berard Haile, Gladys Reichard, and Raymond O. Wyman.
The narrative encodes moral constraints on sexuality, reciprocity, and proper ritual comportment.