THE CREATION STORY OF

NAVAJO
NAVAJO
CREATION STORY
People didn't always live here, where they live now.
The Insect People passed through four separate
worlds, but in each world they displeased the gods
and were forced to flee through a hole in the sky
into the next world. Then they walked up a reed
from the bottom of a lake and that's how they got
into this world. In the Fourth World they met up with
the Kisani people (the Pueblo Indians) and the
Insect People created First Man and First Woman of
the Dinè (Navajo people).
First Man and First Woman led the people to this
world, and they brought along their two children,
the Changing Twins. They were Monster Slayer and
Child of the Water.
CREATION STORY
When First Man and First Woman and the
twins got to this world, it was all covered
with water. But winds came and blew the
water off of some of the land, so people
could live on it. Then First Man got help
from the diyin dine (spirit people) to make
all the things on earth. He had a sacred
medicine bundle and he took out the
things in the bundle one by one and sang
to it, and so he turned it into a mountain,
or a tree, or an animal, or a time of day,
or something else.
CREATION STORY
Once the earth was made, the twin
brothers made all the things that people
need. First one of the twins scooped up
some clay from the stream in his hand
and shaped it into a food bowl. Then his
brother found some reeds growing and
wove them into a basket. The twins
picked up stones and made them into
knives and spear points and hammers,
and they made digging sticks out of
wood, and hoes from deer shoulder
blades. So people got all the tools that
they needed.
CREATION STORY
The original world lay deep within the present earth.
Lit by neither sun nor moon, it contained dimly
colored clouds that moved around the horizon to
mark the hours. At first life was peaceful; then the
evils of lust and envy took hold, and violence broke
out. So the ancestral Navajo fled into exile, grappling
upward through a hole in the sky to another world
directly above. Here, where the light was blue,
harmony at first prevailed. Then again the same
story: bitter quarreling, followed by escape and a
climb to yet another world, and then another.
CREATION STORY
Finally, First Man and First Woman, the
direct ancestors of humankind, emerged on
the present earth. Water covered the earth's
surface, but sacred winds gusted in to blow it
away. With the aid of a sacred medicine
bundle, and guided by beings known as diyin
dine, the holy people, First Man then filled
the world with all its natural bounty and
wonder. He laid out each object in the bundle
and by chanting transformed it into an
animal, a plant, a mountain peak, an hour of
the day.
CREATION STORY
Everything in the new universe resided
in perfect balance, controlled by a kind
of spiritual symmetry; four directions,
four winds, four seasons, and the four
basic colors of black, blue, amber and
white. Most of all, an essential
harmony prevailed, called hozho,
which blended the concepts of beauty,
peace, happiness and righteousness.
 Earth
Navajo Sandpainting
Textile
The creation story of
Navajo
Pueblo people

• The Pueblo people are a Native American

people in the Southwestern United States.
• Of the approximately 25 pueblos that exist
today, Hopi are the best-known.