Navajo Creation Story - Meaning and Interpretation

By King Meera -

1.       For as a child sleeps when being nursed, so life slept in the Darkness of the Female Being.
- Black Cloud represented Female Being- Female Being was understood as darkness, slumber, dormant nutrition.
2.       Male Being was the Dawn, the Light which Awakens. He was represented by the White Cloud.
3.       The Black World was just the beginning. Life forms of Beings or Substances hadn’t expanded yet. Hence the Black World was small. Furthermore it had no established foundations- its origin itself was uncertain. The idea of the entire Earth as one World was not known to the Navajo storytellers. Hence the basis, structure, forms and source of the first world was uncertain.  It was isolated and disconnected, floating in or shrouded in mist/water.
4.       The pine tree that grew on the floating island that was the First World is suggestive of eternity and self-sufficiency. What happens to a pine tree in a forest fire? It may burn, but it can continue to germinate even then. So it is with the Earth and with Man- they may be brought down but they can also pick themselves up.
5.       Creatures of the First World were Mist People who would later change to men, beasts, birds and reptiles. They were just ideas at this point.
6.       The formation of First Man and First Woman was as such:

WEST                                                                                     EAST
First Woman                                                                      First Man
Yellow Corn                                                                      White corn- ‘Dohonotini’
White shell
Turquoise, Yucca   

They represented Dawn and Darkness respectively. First Man was the Life Giver. First Woman was Death. However, this was true only for isolation- First Woman was death and darkness (a switched-off engine) because she was not producing anything by herself. When united with First Man, that changed.                          

RECAP BY BHAVANI MA'AM:
Navajo     Native oral narrative
           components
           nature elements, worshiped, use in story
           symbol's significance, reference
                       corn- fertility
                       clouds- upward floating movement
insects & beasts- represents darkness and survival instinct
Just one tribe - Nilhodilhil is its story of creation
reflection of NA culture, practises - the sand painting
family values, morals, ethical- given importance.

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