Emergence
With stories of origin and creation, it is best to start at the beginning, because that’s the point of the tale being told, where does it all begin? In the Din4 culture there are sacred colors that correspond with the directions, the mountains, time of day, human development, seasons, and the process of thinking. Four is a sacred number, many things happen in fours, and in the beginning, we have four major worlds that we lived in prior to the one we reside in now. The worlds that we emerged from have their own color representation, and specific inhabitants. In this unit, I will summarize as best I can these stories that are much loved and respected by the Din4 people. Keep in mind that these narratives are meant to be told orally, and should be done so in a way that you as the story teller make it your own. Let it become your voice, your life, your experience to pass down to the listener. We are not a people that merely recites our history from written works, we are a people who connect these tales through life because they are deeply rooted in our way of thinking, and living, and surviving.
For the stories in this curriculum I refer to the translated work of prominent medicine men by three non-Navajo authors/editors, Raymond Friday Locke, Aileen O’Bryan, Paul Zolbrod. For the majority of the stories in this curriculum, I use the oral narratives from Johnson Dennison, Avery Denny, Grace Tracy, Rose Fasthorse-Nofchissey, and from Ethelou Yazzie. These people are still alive, and still hold the stories that have been passed to them by their parents.
First World
The First world is associated with the color black. It was a world of mist and darkness, and was inhabited by Mist or Air Spirit people, coyote, and insects. In the First world is where First Man and First Woman were created by the merging of two clouds from two directions, with color representations for each direction. First Man was created by the merging of a black cloud from the North, and a white cloud of the East. First Woman through the same process of South-blue cloud, and West-yellow cloud. Where the two clouds merge, the mists of both clouds join together, creating pillars where the Holy people, who are ever present, leave a perfect ear of corn. At the meeting of the clouds, First Man and First Woman are created, and come forth with a perfect ear of corn. First man had a perfect ear of white corn, and First Woman had a perfect ear of yellow corn.
The insect beings and Holy ones lived in peace, but only for a while. In the First World, the insect people began to fight amongst each other and they started great civil wars. The Holy Beings that were present and who were guardians of the land kicked the Insect people out of the First World. The Insect People flew up toward the sky and searched for a place to exit. The First World was like a floating island and the Insect people had to make their way up into the sky and there they found a small hole in one of the edges of the sky and they made their way through to the Second World.
Second World
When the Insect people arrived to the Second World, also known as the Blue World, they noticed there were already beings that lived in this world. Bluebirds, Blue Jays, Blue Hawks, and Blue Herons. Badger, Kit Foxes, Wildcats, and Mountain Lions also were residents of the area. Representatives of the land noticed the emerging newcomers and invited them to stay because of similar appearances. The group of Insect people were happy and lived in peace with the animal people of the Blue World, but it wasn’t long before the evil from the First World caught up with them. Warring began, the Insect people had disrespected the residents of the Blue World, which caused them to banish the Insect People. According to O’Bryan, Locke, and Zolbrod, the Insect People flew up to the edge of the sky again and located a hole to exit, while in the oral narratives First Man had performed a ceremony using the knowledge he had gained in the First, and living in the Second World then led the people up to the next world by creating a type of escalator made of precious stones.
Third World
The Insect beings once again made their entry into the Third World, or the Yellow World, and in this world there were many small animals like chipmunk, squirrel, spiders, snakes, and cats. In this world there were two rivers that crossed each other, and present were our six sacred mountains, Sis Naajin7, Tsoodzi[, Dook’o’oos[77d, Dib4 Nitsaa, Dzi[ N1’oodi[ii, Dzi[ Ch’0ol’9’9. In other stories, the mountains remain in the same place all throughout the worlds, and in each world, mountain soil is collected and carried in a bundle to the next new world. During the people’s stay in this world, everyone lived well together as before in the previous worlds and soon quarreling began to happen again which forced the people to move up and out again. In Ethelou Yazzie’s version Coyote was the instigator of the forced move in the Third World, for he stole the babies of Water Monster causing a great flood to drive out the people. In Zolbrod, O’Bryan, and Locke’s version, the Fourth World is where the big flood happens, but it’s caused by the separation of the sexes. However, in the majority of the versions of the emergence story, the Fourth World is where the separation of the sexes occurs.
Fourth World
In the Fourth World there was a dispute between First Man and First Woman which caused the separation of genders. Men went to one side of the river, and women remained on the other side. The genders stayed separated for years, and as both sides saw that this wasn’t working out they came back together. In one version, offerings were made to the water to repair the split and to put life back in balance. While doing this Coyote witnessed the water offering and noticed babies in the water that belonged to Water Monster, and when no one was looking, Coyote stole one of the babies. Water Monster became enraged, and summoned large white walls of water to destroy the land. The people saw the white walls and proceeded to gather their belongings and escape. The people tried planting seeds of different trees to try to reach the sky to escape, but they weren’t growing tall enough. An old man, and a young man came forth and planted 32 reeds that grew tall and merged together to widen enough for people to enter and climb. In another version, a male reed is planted at first but didn’t make it, so a female reed was planted by First Man, and that was what reached the top. In both stories, the people entered the reed, and climbed up and made it to the next world.
For some storytellers, this world we live in now is the Fourth World, for others, we are in the Fifth World, but both agree that the final World (until we travel to the next one) is called the Glittering World. Whether you’re going by Fourth or Fifth, this final world is where most of our natural surroundings are acknowledged as created. The sun, moon, stars, fire, lodges, life, death, mountain forms, people of today and gambling were created, each having its own tale to go along with how it came to be. Here in this World is where we start to hear about the threat of monsters. They are great beings with special powers used to kill and eat humans.
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